XForce: A Marvel Anthology Presentation
by Sinister2004
Summary: This is my X-Force title for the fanfic site Marvel Anthology http://ma. and it stars a changed Havok leading a black ops team in a world where Xavier's dream might be finally be reached. Check it out!
1. Chapter 1

**X-FORCE #1**

"**Deadly Deals Part One"**

"We have a problem and we need to take care of it in the way only X-Force can."

Havok had no qualms about killing anymore. Everything died and if he had to help speed a few along in that process then so be it. No one had any idea the hardships he had endured and why he had so easily resigned himself to a path laden with dead bodies and destruction. Truthfully, he wasn't even sure why he had thrown his lot in with the X-Men. Xavier's dream was finally starting to focus into reality, but it wouldn't come without a price. No luxury existed without some dark consequence being hidden behind it. X-Force was that consequence.

Emma Frost and Logan ha d charged him with protecting the interests of mutants under the radar. He had been offered the job to keep the peace and stop threats before they happened because he had worked under the radar a few times in his life. Some of the things he had done still kept him awake at night, but they had to be done. You didn't always get a good choice and a bad choice in life. Sometimes all you got was a bad choice and a worse choice.

"I trust everyone slept well," Havok said from the head of the black rectangular table that was centered in Muir Island's former scientific conference room. It now served as X-Force's briefing room.

"I don't need sleep boss," Abyss said with his feet propped up on the table. The Genoshan was telling the truth however sarcastically it was stated. His unique physiology had long ago stopped him from needing that human essential.

"I never asked for a response Abyss," Havok said as he stood up from his chair and passed manila folders to all of his team.

Picking her teeth with one of her bone daggers, Marrow said, "You're always making me read. When will we use light pictures like every other decent mutant team."

"Holographic systems are still not fully operational. Additional parts are being scrapped together for it. In the meanwhile, we use easily disposable paper briefings," Havok said knowing the source of Marrow's complaint. She couldn't read. A life spent brawling in a little hell called The Hill didn't leave much time for Socrates. Alex didn't fault her for it though. He needed warriors and not intellectuals.

Pipeline, a former Genoshan Magistrate, flipped through the pictures in the manila folder and stopped at a very familiar one. "Phalanx?"

Alex walked back to his seat and nodded. "We have a major problem on our hands. It seems that someone is trying to sell some captured Phalanx on the black market. We know of three high target mutants trying to buy them."

M immediately recognized one of the pictured mutants. "Emma use to speak of this woman. Selene I believe it was."

"My old X-Force team encountered her at one point," Shatterstar added.

"Dark Beast and Mikhail," Marrow nearly growled. To put it kindly, both mutants had played a traumatic role in her life. "I never brought that demon bull."

Havok felt the need to correct her. "Mikhail is the one I'm least concerned with. His actions in Russia, while revolutionary, don't strike me as inherently malicious. I think we can get through to him. Rasputin strikes me as reasonable."

Madrox didn't quite buy Havok's POV. "Mikhail's actions undermine Xavier's interests in that region of the world."

Blind Faith, Russian mutant and Havok's second, jumped in. "One problem with that statement comrade. Mikhail fights to destroy the Russian Mafia. Humans can't be trifled with mutant rights when they have none of their own."

Never one for too much debate, Abyss asked, "So what's the mission boss? We get to blow anything up?"

"Not as much as you might think. I want info right now, first and foremost. There's more going on here and I want in on it," Havok said more forcefully than he had intended. "Your roles are outlined in the files. Read over them, understand it, and address all issues with me."

Abyss smiled with anticipation. "So we can go?"

"Yes. You're dismissed," Blind Faith answered for a clearly annoyed Havok. Abyss had jovial tendencies that would excessively grate the nerves of anyone spending extended periods of time with him.

As the members of X-Force marched out of the room, Havok leaned back in his chair and asked, "Do you think they can handle it? We have some big hunting ahead of us."

"They're a resilient bunch and they take care of business. Even Abyss."

"I wouldn't have chosen them otherwise. They all have had hard lives. It makes them good for this kind of work, but it'll take a toll."

Blind Faith sensed his commander's worry. "Don't project so far ahead Alex. We'll deal with issues as they come. There's little point in deconstructing our team before its even had time to really get running."

**=X=**

"She's an immortal sorceress," Monet said as she walked to the mess hall with Pipeline. She found something intriguing about the Genoshan's attitude. After all the hardship he had experienced, he cared for little that the human world had to offer and espoused a new ideal of mutant unity. That ideal and the grit that came along with it were nothing like Everett. It was for that reason she found it attractive.

"Is she a mutant?" Pipeline asked.

M wanted to laugh. He obviously wasn't paying any attention in the meeting because small details were never missed by him. "Yes, and a powerful one at that. Emma never really seemed to care for her."

"Who does that woman care for?" Pipeline asked. He had never had many direct dealings with the woman since she became part of the X-Men, but her icy demeanor was gossip fodder in the mutant world. You crossed Emma Frost at your own peril.

"She would want to be here for this mission. Dark Beast and her have unfinished business," M said as she pushed open the door to the mess hall. Monet had her own memories of that monster. He had captured and experimented on her team once. She didn't really remember what his experiments entailed, but she had never felt more violated.

The only person eating in the hall was Cecelia Reyes, the team's medical officer. Upon hearing the entrance of the two mutants, she lifted her head up from her plate. "Someone mention Hank?"

"A version of him," M said.

Cecelia's face darkened. "Oh him. Guess he's gone and ticked you off."

"Not us," Pipeline corrected. "Havok."

"The man that might as well be glued to every last one of you? That's the Havok we're talking about right?"

Pipeline wasn't amused. His history with Alex ran deep and while it wasn't always pleasant he respected the man. "He's your leader too."

"What's your problem with him?" M asked. She didn't worship the ground the man walked on, but she respected the fact he was doing the work few others would want to. He was willingly getting his hands dirty to preserve the peace that the X-Men had fought so hard to create.

Wiping sauce from the corner of her mouth, Dr. Reyes sat her napkin down and said, "He's keeping things from us and I've never cared for secrets. As if we aren't drowning in them already."

"You knew that when you signed up for this," Pipeline said. "If you don't like it then leave."

"Besides," M said, "You're one to talk about secrets. Didn't you hide the fact that you were a mutant for most of your adult life?"

"Don't even go there with me honey," Cecelia said with a snap of her fingers. "What I did was for my own reasons and it sure didn't put anyone in danger. Only reason I'm even here is because Logan badgered me to high heaven about it."

"And its nice to know we'll always have an upworlder healer around to take care of all our nasty boo boos," Marrow teased as she stepped into the mess hall.

"Glad to know someone around here appreciates my work," Dr. Reyes said as she stood up from her table and took her plate to the kitchen sink.

"I appreciate your work," Pipeline replied. "Just none of the criticism. In this kind of environment too much dissent leads to lost lives."

"This isn't Genosha. We all don't have to line up and say yes sir."

**=X=**

"Yes sir," Pipeline said into the cell phone as he stepped into one of many cold alleys in Russia's capital.

The former Magistrate's mutant ability wasn't a world shattering one and it wouldn't spell doom for mankind, but it had many uses. In a team like X-Force he was a lynchpin and was glad to have an important mission for the first time in his life since Genosha. Looking back on what he did there, he wasn't proud of it, but there he was somebody. People respected him as a Magistrate. They spat on him as a mutant. It was a hard thing to get use to.

Pulling the electronic device away from his ear, Pipeline used his unique mutant ability. What literally looked like bits of data began to pour out of the phone. They streamed towards the ground and began to pile one on top of the other until Havok, Blind Faith, and Madrox were formed.

"Well that was quite the interesting experience," Blind Faith said. "I've never been digitized before."

Madrox took it a step further. "Have you ever put someone back together wrong before?"

"Not that I know of, but anything's possible," Pipeline casually replied.

Madrox swallowed back a hard lump. "So can we catch a flight home Alex?"

"Codenames in the field Madrox. No telling who might be out here along with us," Havok said.

Madrox had never really seen Alex this paranoid before. He had never been a hardliner for the codenames, but there was a point to what he was talking about. A mutant with super senses could be picking up on their whole conversation from a mile away. In a world of superpowers there really was no protecting your privacy. Jamie had always thought that was another large root of why humans feared mutants. Some of the things they cherished most were put in jeopardy by the presence of mutants.

"Question remains. Can we catch a ride home?"

"Pipeline has the flight. We'll be right along with him," Havok said. "Digitized and all."

Blind Faith looked down at his watch and said, "We need to get moving. I am supposed to be meeting with my contact in forty minutes."

"Let's move then," Havok said. "We let Blind Faith do all the talking. I don't want to reveal our nationalities unless absolutely necessary."

"If worse comes to worse I can just do some memory wiping, but Havok's ways would preserve us any headaches."

Madrox smirked. "I figure Pipeline's tan would just scream Genoshan."

"Anyone asks I'll just be Afrikaan."

"Works for me," Havok said. "Lets get going."

**=X=**

"I think we got the better end of the mission stick," Monet said as she kicked in the door. "It's been some time since I've been to Paris."

Marrow walked in behind Monet smacking her teeth. "Too many pretty pretties here for me. Need some beautiful ugly in my life."

"Whatever that means," Monet said as she began to flip over couches and furniture looking for anything that may have been of value.

Shatterstar walked past Marrow and said, "I think she means people who look like her. Fellow mutants. Am I right Marrow?"

"Something like that. I'll find us something to eat," Marrow said as she headed in the direction of the kitchen.

Shatterstar unsheathed his swords. "I'll find any electronic storage devices and try to see if I can procure any information for us."

"Just be careful," Monet said. "If this really was a place Selene called home then there's a chance for magical booby traps."

Keeping guard at the door, Abyss said, "You could stand to take some of your own advice love. The way you're tossing crap around I'm surprised you haven't waked up the whole apartment complex."

Nils was more nervous about being here than he cared to share. Selene had drained mutants dry according to the file of her Havok had given them. Then there was her picture. Something about those eyes was pure hunger. It matched up perfectly with her personality. She'd consume everything in her path until she was the only one left. He could only imagine the battle they would have on their hands if she just happened to show up. They would have to fall back. Havok had sent them here on a fact finding mission and nothing more, but with Monet going to town Selene would know she was being watched.

"Speed is just as important as finesse Nils," Monet said as she started emptying drawers next to large plasma screen TV. A tiny black book fell to the ground and M picked it up. "See what I mean."

Abyss shrugged. "I guess so."

Shatterstar walked into the living room with a tiny silver ring in his hand. "I do believe I've found some sort of data core."

Marrow walked in a bottle of wine in each hand. "I think we should take these. Give Havok a reason to loosen up."

Abyss laughed. "If there was ever a quicker way to get him to tighten up show him that! He'd blow a few circuits."

"That's nice and all, but I could use some help," Monet said with the black book firmly held in her hand.

Shatterstar picked up on the distress in her voice. "What's wrong M?"

"I can't move."

Marrow laughed. "Weren't you just talking about traps?"

"When I get out of this I'm going to trap you right back under a manhole."

The Morlock's laughter continued. "You're welcomed to try. That's if you get unstuck."

"Silence!" Shatterstar said. "We need to move her and figure out how to help her back on Muir Island."

Marrow look disgusted. "I'm not touching her. What if what she has makes me unable to move as well?"

"Love has got a point there. Can't exactly move her when we don't know exactly what she's done to herself."

Shatterstar was struck with an idea. "We can wrap her in a blanket and move her."

"Aww ain't that sweet. Just like a pretty pretty statue," Marrow said.

Monet was in a completely helpless position and had only herself to blame for it. She still intended to take that blame out on Marrow as soon as they figured out what was wrong with her. At least she had been actually doing what Havok assigned them to do and not digging through Selene's fridge. She could only hope that the immortal witch didn't decide to come by for a quick visit. With herself being out of the fight, her teammates would stand little chance against Emma's old foe.

As if reading her thoughts, Shatterstar said, "Don't worry. I don't think we'll have to worry about Selene showing up. According to the intel, she hasn't been seen in this area in almost a month."

Abyss felt the need to point out, "That's if M didn't set off some sort of alarm system."

Moving into the woman's bedroom, Shatterstar came back with a black bed sheet in his hands. As he approached Monet, she said, "I hope that's Egyptian cotton. If I'm going to be wrapped up like some doll it should at least be with a high thread count."

Shatterstar looked at the fabric in his hands and shrugged. "I know nothing of this Egyptian cotton."

"Can we hurry up already? This wine is starting to get cold," Marrow said.

Monet's eyes went wide. "Run—

"I would strongly suggest you put my wine down," Selene said as she held Abyss in the air by his throat. "Or we're going to have more than a few problems."

**NEXT ISSUE: Things get hairy for the guys and gals in grand ole Paris! **


	2. Chapter 2

**X-FORCE #2**

"**Deadly Deals Part Two"**

_Previously: Havok briefed his team on a black market Phalanx deal involving Dark Beast, Mikhail Rasputin, and Selene. Alex split his team into two groups; one in Moscow and one in Paris. While Havok's team is moving in to meet Blind Faith's contact the team in Paris has found themselves face to face with Selene. And M is completely paralyzed._

**=X=**

Selene smiled at Marrow holding two of her wine bottles. "At least you have taste my dear. Those are from before Napoleon's day."

Marrow smirked. "So you might have a problem if I drop them on the ground."

The External's smile vanished. "Do that and I'll make your friend into a shriveled cornstalk."

Shrugging, Marrow said, "I never really liked him anyway. You'd be doing me a favor."

Abyss was barely able to speak over Selene's grip. "Drop that and I'll kick your—

"Silence!" Selene said as her grip grew tighter. Abyss swore if he had bones she would have broken some. "You have not been spoken to."

Marrow laughed. "You upworlders love to hear yourselves talk."

Selene scowled at the woman. "You've trifled me—Ahh!!"

Five shurikens delivered by Shatterstar were flung right into Selene's face and sent her flying back into the nearest wall. Abyss dropped to the ground and Shatterstar shouted at him. "Attack her now!"

Styger's chest split open like a fruit against the concrete. A swirling light was in the center of the cavity as a strong sucking sound filled the room. Abyss' hole was trying to consume everything; even light and sound. A weakened Selene tried to find something to grip on, but she was too blinded by blood and pain. She gave a weak moan as he nails scraped against the linoleum floor and she was sucked into Abyss' chest.

The black tendrils making up Abyss's body closed up the dimensional vortex and he gave a sigh of relief. "That was too close man."

Marrow walked over to Abyss and helped him to his feet. "You should have been paying more attention."

Nils didn't like Marrow's assessment, but she was right. He should have been paying more attention. M's situation had taken so much of his attention he never saw Selene sneak up on him. Honestly, he never even expected the woman to show up. Why had she come back?

"Where is Havok getting his intel from?" Abyss asked.

Marrow shrugged. "Beats me. It's always reliable."

"Why does it matter? Can we just go home?" M asked, her body still frozen in place with the black book in her hand.

Shatterstar covered M in the blanket and lifted her frozen body up over his shoulder. "All things considered I think we came out alright. We found some information and have a prisoner."

"A loud one at that," Abyss said. "I can hear her screaming. She's not happy at all."

"Good," Marrow said patting him on his back. "She'll kill you first."

"I don't know love. I didn't throw the ninja stars in her face," Abyss laughed. "That was a pretty bomb move though. Had to hurt."

Shatterstar made his way to the door being careful not to bang M up against anything. "Marrow gave me the opening. It was a smart move I simply took advantage of. We should make haste before a neighbor calls the authorities."

Marrow scoffed. "French police? Leech could tear through those upworlders like moldy cake."

Abyss shook a nasty image out of his head. "I really don't want to know the source of that metaphor."

**=X=**

Blind Faith walked into the internet café with Havok and Pipeline keeping close behind him. Madrox had remained outside to make sure nothing suspicious started taking place. His abilities made it far easy for him to perform perimeter sweeps quickly. He was positioned in five different vantage points affording him a wide enough visual spread to pick up on any ambushes. Having gotten a clean reading thus far, Madrox spoke into his headset and said, "All clear so far boss. I'll keep you posted."

Havok spoke into his headset quietly. "Roger that. Keep an eye out for the unusual."

"Madrox find anything?" Pipeline asked. He always was stricken with some strange sense of nostalgia working with Havok again. For some time, the Genoshan had known his present leader as Magistrate Summers. They had worked together in keeping the peace, but Pipeline has come to realize it was an unjust peace.

"He didn't find anything, which makes me worried. I don't know a great deal about this country, but there is always a threat here. These people always think three and four steps ahead," Havok said.

Blind Faith looked back at Alex and smiled. "Have I given you that bad an impression of my country?"

"No my friend. Just a realistic one," Havok said. "Would this contact of yours have any reason to be ticked with you?"

"Not that I know of, but rivalries have a way of materializing when you're not looking in Russia," Blind Faith as he scanned the room in search of his informant.

Seeing a large, bald man with an eagle tattoo on the back of his neck, Blind Faith tapped Havok on the shoulder and said, "That's him. Hang back and I'll go to talk to him. The further back the better."

"Understood. First sign of trouble we'll move in," Havok said as he quickly turned away from Blind Faith and walked towards the entrance. A few eyes had cut suspicious looks at Havok and Pipeline, but they did their best not to return the stare. One wrong look could give them away and bring trouble their way they weren't looking for.

Blind Faith tapped the large man on the shoulder as he was tapping away on the computer. The computer slob never looked up, but Alexi knew he had the man's attention. "It's been a while Dimtri. How's the wife?"

The contact's words were harsh. "Cut the small talk Alexi. You disappear off the radar and all of a sudden pop up asking questions about Rasputin. Who are you running with? The mafia?"

Alexi gave a genial smile to keep people from listening in. Not like they wouldn't try anyway. His country had become one that thrived off of information. "Hardly old friend. The mafia couldn't pay me enough. I have a different set of friends. Ones you'd probably be better off not knowing about."

"Told Rasputin's boys it wasn't the mafia."

"So you did make contact? Did they agree to meet with me?"

For the first time, the informant picked his head up from the computer and pushed up his glasses. "Only after I gave them that thumb drive you sent me. Just what was on that thing?"

"A means to convince them of my intentions. Nothing more. Nothing less. As before, it would probably be better for you if you didn't know anything about it," Blind Faith said.

"I heard them mention Savante Adel. He's a black market dealer. High level stuff. What's he got to do with anything?" the computer geek asked. Blind Faith knew his curiosity was genuine, but just as fueled by a need to line his pockets.

Blind Faith cut down that idea quickly. "When is my meeting with Rasputin?"

The informant pulled a card from his pocket and slapped it in Alexi's hand. "The information is all there man. So when will I get my transfer?"

"Twenty thousand in US dollars will be in your account by the time I walk out of here. Consider this as a down payment of sorts. I'm going to need you again in the future. Keep your ears to the ground."

Giving a fake salute, the contact said, "You got it. Just let me know and I'll get it done comrade."

"Good. Glad to know you're still reliable," Blind Faith said.

"And glad to know you're still alive. Tell your friends to try and look less suspicious the next time they break off from you eh," the fat man laughed causing his double chin to jiggle.

"They're new to the game. You'll have to forgive them," Blind Faith said as he stepped back from the contact. "Until we meet again."

**=X=**

Agent X pulled his binoculars back and stepped away from the edge of the icy roof. "Four mutants identified sir. Transferring binocular images into our mutant database."

He pulled what looked like a miniature PDA from his belt and hovered it above the binoculars in his other hand. Red and blue lights beeped across the machine's screen. When they finally came to a halt, Agent X read the screen and said, "Mutants identified as Havok, Multiple Man, Pipeline, and Blind Faith."

Agent X's handler stepped forward and rubbed a furry hand across his chin. "An odd collection. They must be trying to make contact with Rasputin. Warn him I'm coming."

"Sir? The computer has two of them identified as X-Men. Would they really help someone as heavily involved with criminal activities as Rasputin?"

"Two of Rasputin's siblings served with the X-Men. Besides, Havok has a flair for doing things outside what's expected of him. It stands completely to reason that they would work with him."

Agent X nodded. He wasn't entirely convinced, but he did not have the full breadth of the X-Men's history at his disposal. Besides, his job was to protect and not to question. He would leave that to better minds to work out. "Do you want me to engage sir?"

"No. We follow them. I have a feeling that they will lead me right to Rasputin. Then we can begin aggressive negotiations."

"Yes sir," Agent X said as he slid his computer console back onto his belt. "Computer activate cloaking field."

Agent X and his handler both became invisible against the Russian sky. "Sir do you think we'll need to call in back-up for this one?"

"No! She would have a field day with that. I have to handle this on my own."

"Understood sir."

"You can stop saying sir around me! I created you with personality. You can at least try to use it!"

Agent X laughed. "Sorry Doc. It's just that she says I need to be more professional. Been trying to get into the mode."

"Well then do it around her. I need my soldiers to be able to hold a conversation."

"You seem to be the only one at base who does. I swear if I get another dressing down—

"That's why I've placed you personally at my side. I created you to be a certain way. I don't want you to suppress that."

"Ok Doc. Then I got a question," Agent X said as he cocked his gun unseen while descending the fire escape ladder.

"Ask."

"Why did you stop with just me? I thought I was supposed to be a template for more soldiers?" Agent X said as he leaped off the ladder midway through it and landed on the ground without a sound.

His creator landed in a primate's posture only a few feet behind him. "You were a template, but there are some modifications I want to make to ensure diversity. As a scientist, repetition of the experiment is the most boring part of the process for me."

"So are you saying I'm imperfect?"

The creator gave a bestial laugh. "Hardly. I simply don't like eating pizza everyday. She may like to have cookie cutter soldiers and I'll give her a whole warm, gooey batch eventually. But as for me, I need excitement and flavor. My culinary tastes are a tad more sophisticated."

Agent X looked slightly confused. "So are we talking about food or me?"

"I see I should have put more work into your creative centers."

**=X=**

Doctor Reyes had spent a great deal of her time on Muir Island running through Moira McTaggert's old notebooks, video tapes, and recordings in an effort to understand herself and the mutant community better. As a medical doctor, Cecelia wasn't able to comprehend much of the terminology littering McTaggert's work, but what she could understand was brilliant. What remained of the woman's work was not only helping her to better appreciate those in her care, but also her own unique mutant physiology. By pouring through McTaggert's old work she was grasping for the first time why mutants were such an amazing step forward.

"Moira you were taken away far too soon," Cecelia said as she closed one of the geneticist's many notebooks and took a sip of her hot chocolate.

If there was no other reason for Cecelia to appreciate the work done on Muir Island it was because it made her work easier. Moira's massive research into the Legacy Virus ultimately delivered a cure even though it cost a friend his life. Reyes had had one memorable experience with The Legacy Virus back at her Harlem practice. Pyro had nearly brought the whole place down.

The doors to Cecelia's newly operational office opened and Marrow walked in with her usual arrogant swagger. "Would love to have your job pretty pretty. Get to sit in these cushy chairs sipping on juice all day."

"Sarah I don't think you could sit down for anything past five minutes," Cecelia said finishing off her hot chocolate. "So I assume the mission went well?"

Marrow gave a devilish smile, "We got ourselves a prisoner for Havok to play with."

"It is beyond me why all of you are so enamored with that man."

"Not a lot of people like me. I know I'm not easy to get along with. No one around here is. I thought having better control of my powers would make me happy. It didn't. I'm happy here. Fighting how I know how to fight," Marrow said.

Sarah was always a confusing mess to Cecelia. The two of them had gotten off to a very rocky start and Marrow saw her as little more than a sack of useless meat. Then there were times like this when she exposed herself. Reyes was never really sure how to react in those moments.

"Well, when you put it like that I guess I can see why you like Havok. Xavier's clean cut dream just isn't made for some mutants I guess."

"My entire life has been one big fight. I don't know how to do much else," Marrow said and then as an insignificant afterthought added, "Oh and M is in the infirmary."

"What?!" Cecelia exclaimed as she nearly jumped out of her chair. "You're just telling me this? After we've been sitting here—

"I don't really care for that pretty pretty," Marrow said. "She's arrogant and got herself into trouble. Maybe she won't turn her nose up at all of us anymore."

Cecelia pushed past Marrow and walked out of the door. "I can't believe you!"

Marrow laughed after Reyes was gone. The doctor had a fire in her and while Marrow had not seen it when they first met it became more apparent the more time you spent around her. Cecelia fitted more into Havok's team than she cared to admit. They were all tumblers in their own way. Xavier's new, clean way of doing things just didn't suit them. It certainly didn't work for her. She had spent her life in the dark. Coming into the light stopped making sense a long time ago.

**NEXT ISSUE: Reyes does her best to help M and Havok meets with Mikhail. **


	3. Chapter 3

**X-FORCE #3**

_Previously: Blind Faith met with one of his informants in Russia who delivered him a time and a meeting place to deal with Mikhail Rasputin. All the while they were being watched by Agent X and his creator. Shatterstar and his team captured Selene after a scuffle, but M was taken back to the infirmary on Muir Island for treatment…_

**=X=**

Doctor Reyes burst into the infirmary and found M posed like some Greek statue in the middle of it. Cecelia knew paralysis when she saw it. "What happened? And make it fast!"

Shatterstar provided her an answer. "She picked up an item in Selene's apartment and found herself unable to move. I think it was of a magical nature."

Cecelia rushed to the frozen Monet and checked for a pulse. "Let's hope that's not the case. I'm a medical expert. Wizardry is someone else's department."

Abyss shrugged. "I got a few WoW friends who might be able to lend a hand."

Reyes cut her eyes at Nils. "Do you think this is a joke? Get out of my infirmary before I throw you out!"

Backing away like a wounded cat, Abyss said, "Sheesh! It's commonly known as a joke."

Reyes had no patience for it. "Go! Shatterstar escort him out. I have tests to run."

"Come my friend. We need to let Dr. Reyes work," Shatterstar said as he threw an arm across Abyss's shoulder and let him out of the infirmary.

Under his breath, Abyss whispered, "I swear I'll never understand women."

"Why I prefer men," Shatterstar laughed.

M waited until the two men were gone to speak. "Just do what you can doctor. I don't deserve to be trapped like this."

Doctor Reyes flashed a light in Monet's eyes. "How long have you been able to talk?"

"The whole time," M answered. "My mouth is the only part of me not immobile."

Cecelia's hopes that the condition was something she could assist with were quickly being dashed. What M was experiencing was more than a normal paralysis. Not one single vital had been picked up by the doctor and it wasn't just M's muscles that were locked into place. Every single hair on her body had been frozen in place like time around Monet had come to a complete standstill. Whatever had been done to M wasn't going to be cured by medicine.

"What do you think Dr. Reyes?" M asked becoming anxious once the doctor went silent.

Backing away from M, Cecelia took off her medical gloves and said, "I don't have the slightest idea what this might be, but I strongly get the feeling there isn't going to be any medicine that can cure it."

Under her breath, M muttered, "Incompetence."

"Excuse me?" Dr. Reyes said feeling an itch to knock the frozen M right on her head. "What did you say?"

"I would have never thought you to be so incompetent. You have barely examined me and you've already given up. Aren't you going to run tests?"

Anger bubbled up in Cecelia that presented itself in a devilish smile. "You want tests? Well, there was a few that I had in mind to conduct to see if we can work through the paralysis. Have you ever had a mammogram?"

M gave a haughty snort. "No. I'm too young for those."

Dr. Reyes continued to smile. "Oh you're going to love it."

**=X=**

Blind Faith loved being back home. It had been months since he had seen it. The time had been spent helping Alex gather his team and establish their base on Muir Island. Alexi still wasn't sure why he had been the first one Havok thought of when assembling his new team. He never questioned it, but he did sense a great deal of relief from his leader when he first accepted the offer. While he did not regret his decision he regretted the fact it had taken him away from his work in Russia. Work that Rasputin was apparently picking up.

Protecting Russia's mutants had been the crux of Blind Faith's life for quite some time. He had made it his mission to protect his fellow brethren from the persecution they faced from Mother Russia whether it came in the form of the USSR or the newly democratic Russia. For a time, Blind Faith had almost had hope that mutants in his country would be able to make strides towards a better life. That hope was being dashed once he began to realize just how shaky a thing democracy was in his country. Russia was not adjusting well to its new form of government and the old ways were creeping back in. Fighting for mutant equality was a hard thing in the face of starvation and despair.

He felt that many probably saw his leaving Russia as giving up and for a time he had seen it that way himself. That was another part of the reason accepting Alex's offer proved so hard for him. Leaving the mutant underground he had worked so hard to establish was no easy thing, but he knew he left it in good hands. For while they would continue working inside the country; he intended to take his message to the global stage. If he could do the dirty work of the X-Men and allow them to push forward with their positive work then they would inevitably reach Russian hearts. So he could hope at least.

"You shouldn't think so hard Alexi. Your age will start to show," Havok said with a pat on the back as they stood outside the ratty Moscow hotel waiting for Rasputin's representative to arrive.

Pipeline was rubbing himself vigorously under the layers of garments he had on. "This cold is insane. Who would purposely choose to live here?"

Blind Faith took the insult in stride. "The same kind of people who would choose to live in blistering heat."

"And to my knowledge, I don't have to worry about a collar being thrown around my neck here," Madrox said.

Pipeline knew his country's history better than anyone and he didn't like it being thrown in his face. "Dogs have to worry about collars wherever they go!"

"That's about a solid seven on the comeback scale," Madrox said as he took out a cigarette and gave it a long puff. He looked up at Pipeline and held out his pack. "You want a light?"

Pipeline shook his head. "I've been trying to quit."

Madrox shrugged. "I like the nicotine too much. Gives me a reason to act erratic."

Alex remained silent during the exchange between the two men. He knew the Madrox on his team wasn't the original one. The personality was too different from the man that Havok had spent so much time with on X-Factor. Past experiences had already proven that Madrox's dupes could take on a life of their own and apparently this dupe was no different. This Madrox was not only a heavy smoker and drinker, but his style of dress was nothing like the Jamie he knew. Leather jackets, boots, chains, and glasses made up this Madrox's typical wardrobe. He also happened to be armed with a few knives and guns.

It wasn't that Alex found this dupe distasteful because in fact he fitted perfectly into the atmosphere that he was trying to establish for X-Force. He needed mutants who put the protection of mutants first and foremost. Mutants who felt that mutants needed to be protected at any and all costs. There wasn't a person on his team who didn't feel that way. Every last one of them had experienced the full brunt of humanity's hate for mutants.

Marrow was forced to live an underground existence because her appearance didn't fall into human standards of beauty. Blind Faith had seen mutants exploited and massacred by his own government time and time again. Pipeline as a former Genoshan Magistrate knew just how far the depths of human cruelty ran. These were the kind of people Alex needed around him for X-Force to work and this Madrox dupe had a similar mentality.

"What time did this contact of yours say we would be approached?" Havok asked. He didn't like being out in the open especially not in a country like Russia. It was a place where you needed a handgun walking down the street. The only thing that kept Alex somewhat comfortable was having Blind Faith with him. Alexi was a Russian through and through. He understood his people completely for all the good and bad that entailed. It was another quality of Blind Faith's that Alex respected. He was able to be honest even when it hurt him to be.

Blind Faith looked down at his watch and said, "The white rabbit should be here in thirty minutes."

Madrox laughed. "So I assume this is going to be a female. Otherwise, you Russians got a pretty kinky sense of humor."

"It is using the assumptions of people such as yourself that the Russian Mafia has been able to thrive and grow globally. In my country, assumptions will find you in an icy tomb," Blind Faith said.

Pipeline's arms had grown tired so he was now bouncing up and down to keep himself warm. "Well, I can safely assume that if this white rabbit doesn't hurry up soon I'm going to die of frostbite."

"Better than a box," Madrox said. "Isn't that where your country usually stuck mutants?"

"Madrox drop it!" Havok exclaimed. "What is your problem? Leave your personal crap at base. We're on a mission and I expect you to act as such."

"Just having small talk boss," Madrox said. "Just small talk."

Alex's glare was unrelenting. "Then I suggest you just remain quiet."

A lithe woman properly adorned with white bunny ears walked up to the four mutants with a cigarette in her mouth and smeared mascara on her face. "Are you the caravan from Wonderland?"

Blind Faith stepped forward and said, "We're just looking for the White Rabbit."

The woman gave a terse smile. "Follow me."

Madrox took one last drag of his cigarette. "Guess the humor isn't too kinky after all."

**=X=**

The bunker the white rabbit led them to was lit by a variety of battery powered lamps ranging in shape, size, and color. It looked like a garage sale gone bad with all the mismatched furniture to go along with it. Madrox looked around the bunker and said, "Home decorating must not be Rasputin's strong suit."

A laugh came from the back of the bunker and Mikhail Rasputin stepped into the light. "Unlike you Americans our resources aren't so plentiful. And the poorer it looks the less likely the police will think to search it."

Blind Faith stepped forward and shook Mikhail's hand. "I'm glad you decided to meet with us."

"After the information you showed me I really didn't have much choice," Mikhail said as he took a seat in a broken recliner. "Please all of you. Take a seat."

They did as directed and Havok asked. "So you've been picking up Alexi's work here in Russia?"

"I've been trying to," Mikhail Rasputin said. His voice was laden with weariness. "I'm nowhere near as good at it as he was. I've been making due."

"That's all anyone can ask," Blind Faith said. "And I appreciate everything you've been doing. Though your approach is a bit of a derivation from how I conducted matters."

Mikhail nodded. "I would prefer to not have to take this route, but criminal activity seems to be the biggest source of revenue in this country. Not to mention I'm hurting the Mafia in the process."

"Forgive me for being direct then, but what does The Phalanx have to do with that fight?" Alex asked.

Alex could see that Mikhail was thinking about his answer and that made him suspicious. Was the answer he about to hear a genuine one or a fabricated half-truth? He wanted transparency from Rasputin, but he wasn't sure how much of it he would be able to get. Alex had already gone out on a limb and offered Rasputin some information in exchange for meeting with them. He could only hope that Rasputin would go the rest of the way and meet them halfway.

"I'm hurting the Mafia, but I need to do more than that," Mikhail said. "I need to strike fear in their hearts. Having The Phalanx as a weapon would be an amazing advantage."

"The Phalanx can't be controlled," Pipeline said. "Using them would as detrimental to you as to the Mafia."

Mikhail laughed. "I know that comrade. I never actually had any intention of really using the Phalanx. Just the knowledge that I have them at my disposal would be enough to send the Mafia running."

"You have some pretty stiff buying competition," Havok said.

"I know and it's pretty apparent that someone is trying to eliminate the rest of the potential buyers. Two have already met untimely deaths," Mikhail said. Then seeing Havok's face he added, "You must think I'm next."

"Considering the other two people left on the list it seems pretty likely," Madrox shrugged. "It's either Dark Beast or Selene trying to off the competition. They're the only ones with the moxy to do it."

Mikhail clasped his hands together and blew his breath into them. "I fear neither one of them, but the warning is appreciated. Your little group seems to have been compiling quite the thorough amount of information."

"We're like you," Alex said. "Protecting mutants is a top priority and we'll go about it by any means necessary."

"So am I right in assuming that the information you've provided me with comes with a price?" Mikhail asked.

Havok smiled. "Not a very steep one. Rest assured on that. We simply would like for you to work with us."

"Oh," Mikhail laughed. "And let me guess my first task. You want me to take you to Savante Adel?"

Havok knew he would have to approach this delicately. "Not if you don't want to. I want this to be an equal partnership if you agree to it Mikhail. My team needs to have friends we can count on. Not people under our thumb."

Mikhail smiled. "Your brother could stand to learn some of your finesse. I'll take you to him. I never liked the wet dog anyway, but in exchange I'll need something to make up for the fear factor of the Phalanx."

"I have an idea to work that out," Havok said.

**=X=**

"I hate coming here," Savante Adel complained as his private jet moved to touch down. "Russia smells and its cold."

The young, Moroccan woman who was his assistant continued typing away at her laptop and without looking up, said, "You did pick this as the meeting place sir."

Adel scoffed. "It worked out better that way, but I'm Ethiopian. Why would I find anything attractive here?"

"Maybe you should try and expand your horizons sir," the assistant said. Then as an afterthought she added, "Besides, you should think about the benefits of this sell."

Adel smiled. "You're right. I'm getting rid of some very risky merchandise and with you at my side I'll be gaining secrets from three very influential mutants."

The assistant tapped the side of her hand. "Telepathy is a very useful thing. So like I was saying sir. You should be happy about being in smelly Russia."

"I'll try," Adel said as he reached over for his golden cane and began to twirl it in his hands. "Before the night is over I'll find myself far richer than when I left. At least that's a comforting thought."


	4. Chapter 4

**X-FORCE #4**

_Previously: Dr. Reyes attempted to help M with her condition, but believes that there is nothing she will able to do about it. M isn't too fond of that answer. The guys in Russia are taken to Rasputin who explains to them his rationale for wanting The Phalanx. He agrees to take them to Savante Adel, who has just landed in Russia…_

When Alex first decided that he was going to have to break up The Phalanx deal he didn't imagine himself ending up in a limo. Yet, here he was in the back of a limo with the rest of his team and Mikhail. Despite Marrow's negative opinion of him, Alex felt like he could trust the man. He had thrown out a lifeline to Rasputin and he took hold of it. Havok felt a strong partnership potentially being sown. If X-Force was going to be relevant he was going to need contacts far and wide that could provide him with pertinent information. Mikhail would be an amazing source to have under his belt.

Taking back a strong swig of his vodka, Mikhail said, "So I'm surprised Xavier is allowing you boys to get your hands so dirty. I had believed he was going for a squeaky clean image now."

Alex tried to not appear uneasy. "He is. It's for that reason he doesn't know that we exist."

"Bold of you," Mikhail said. "You must have someone within his organization who knows about you. Someone able to keep that secret away from Xavier."

Alex smiled. "And I just might tell you who after a few months."

Mikhail nodded. "So I don't get the whole spill in a day. Probably better that way. The business of the X-Men always seems to get me into trouble."

Madrox recited a detail he had read on Rasputin's file. "You last fought with them in Egypt didn't you? What happened to the Horsemen after you vanished with them?"

"I took them to another dimension. It had been a completely random jump. I didn't have any clue where we were. I managed to survive and ended up back here."

Madrox crossed his legs, put his arm around Alex, and said," Kindred spirits huh? Your brother found you in Mongolia after you went off to another dimension didn't he?"

Alex pushed Jamie's arm off of him. "Yes, I was."

Taking Alex's body language into mind, Mikhail asked, "So I assume the experience wasn't a pleasant one?"

Looking out of the window, Alex lied. "I hated every minute of it."

"Then better for the two of us that we're here," Mikhail said as he raised his glass in the air.

Havok didn't respond. He wasn't sure where he wanted to be. Part of him was glad to be home amongst so many people who were familiar to him, but part of him longed for the journey. Part of him longed to be with Scotty, his son. The world he had left the young boy behind in was a broken one. Its heroes had been slaughtered by a version of a woman he once loved here in this world. Madylene Pryor had been a brief affair for him here while she was his wife and the mother of his child in the other world. If it was the last thing he did, Havok was going to bring his family to him.

"Something troubling you comrade?" Mikhail asked.

Havok shook out of his thought. "No, nothing at all. Just contemplating."

"Think long, think wrong," Madrox said with that same annoying grin he had been giving Pipeline when busting his chops about Genosha.

"Do you always manage to have something to say?" Pipeline asked.

Madrox laughed, "Not use to mutants speaking freely are you?"

Pipeline's face couldn't have turned redder if it was covered in lobsters. "Keep pushing it Madrox and I'll introduce you to some of my old friends."

Mikhail, sensing the tension, leaned back in his seat and filled his glass with more vodka. "I think I'm going to need plenty more of this."

**=X=**

Abyss plopped down in front of the television and flipped it on to Cartoon Network where the show Robot Boy was well in progress. "Man I just love this little guy! If Sentinels had half as much personality as him I might—

"Get killed by them faster," Marrow sat as she sat down beside him with a bowl of popcorn in her hands.

Styger frowned at the woman. "You're just a big ray of sunshine. You know that?"

Marrow's eyes were glued on the television. "I try not to be."

Shaking his head in disbelief, Abyss folded his arms across his chest. "Thought my name made me the dreary one."

Shatterstar leaned on the back of the couch the two mutants were sitting on and said, "The electronics behind this Robot Boy make absolutely no sense."

Marrow stuffed a handful of popcorn into her mouth and said through it, "Be quiet! Save your techno babble for Pipeline."

"Don't choke on a kernel," Abyss said with no friendliness.

"I just pick them out with my bones. Don't you worry black skin," Marrow replied.

Shatterstar pushed himself away from the couch. "Well, I would much prefer to play the Xbox."

Abyss laughed. "If that's your way of asking me to turn off the TV so you can play the answer is no."

"I was just suggesting that—

"NO!" Abyss said.

The harsh response prompted Shatterstar to stare awkwardly at Abyss. The Genoshan was usually never so harsh and especially not over a television set. Being the bigger man, Shatterstar said, "I am sorry my friend. I did not intend to upset you."

Abyss stood up off the couch and looked at Shatterstar with glowing purple eyes. "You aren't nearly sorry scum!"

Styger's hand flew up and a bolt of violet energy struck Shatterstar in the chest and sent him flying into the kitchen and creating a crater in the dishwasher. He turned to Marrow and said, "Would you defy me as well wench?"

Marrow threw the bowl of popcorn into Abyss' face and in the momentary confusion; she pulled two bone daggers from her back. "Should have never let you suck that woman up."

A feminine voice had masked itself over Abyss'. "That was indeed a mistake, but the first one was thinking you could ransack my abode unannounced."

Taking no time to respond, Marrow leaped forward and tackled Abyss. As they fell backwards, Marrow drove her daggers into Abyss' shoulders. She knew she was going to hear about it from Havok later, but it was better to be scolded later than dead now. First and foremost, Marrow was a Morlock and Morlocks did whatever they had to do to survive.

Abyss/Selene cried out as Marrow dug her bone daggers in. The Morlock moved her face in close to Abyss/Selene's and whispered, "Come out and fight me like a woman."

With a smile completely unlike him, Abyss/Selene said, "You won't have to ask twice."

Marrow's bone daggers turned to snakes and began to wrap around The Morlock's arms. She fell back from Abyss and struggled to get the animals off of her. As she did this, a ghostly apparition of Selene rose up from Abyss's body and took solid form. She laughed at the struggling Marrow like a child might laugh at a clown making a fool of themselves.

"Did you really think that you even posed a threat to me you pink harlot? I am a sorceress of the highest caliber," Selene said.

Refusing to lose, Marrow savagely bit into one of the snakes wrapping around her arm and cleaved him in half with her team. Now with a mouth full of blood, Marrow was able to use her other hand to yank the snake off of her. Showing two rows of crimson teeth, Marrow said, "Take your witchcraft and shove it up your—

-CLICK!-

"Move just once and I'll blow your head off," Dr. Reyes said as she pressed cold steel to the back of Selene's cranium.

Marrow had no intention of accepting surrender from the enemy and she chunked her bone dagger into Selene's neck. The External's neck began to bleed badly as she struggled for breath. Cecelia backed away from her and let her hit the ground. The doctor looked at Marrow and said, "Did you really have to take it that far?"

"Shut up and fight," Marrow said. "This woman is just getting warmed up."

**=X=**

Africa was a continent immersed in conflict. It had been ravaged by the European powers during their colonial ages and still sought to recover from the plundering of their continent. Eric Dubois was a native of Senegal, a country that had been colonized by France. His life had been never been very favorable and he always looked upon the denizens of the West with some amount of disdain. He wanted to be where they were.

That was why he had latched on to the opportunity to work with Savante Adel. The Ethiopian had high goals and an actual way to attain them. For the first time in his life, Dubois saw the means to attain the life he wanted. He worked as a deal broker for Adel. There was only such much business that Adel could handle on his own and Dubois picked up the slack wherever needed. Right now Dubois had to cover a lot of his boss' clients since he was off in Russia handling a crucial deal which would make them all a ton of money.

It also meant that he had his boss' penthouse all to himself until he got back from Russia. He took the liberty to enjoy the balcony with a cool martini while on the cell phone handling business. If he was going to have the work he might as well indulge in the play.

"We have one of those neogenics devices. Some of the older and some of the newer models. All depends on what you're looking for…what did you say your name was again?"

"Just call me The Genegineer."

Dubois rolled his eyes. He hated working with these super types. They always brought trouble. "Ok Genegineer. Well we have whatever you're probably looking for. Neogenics is pretty cutting edge stuff nowadays. It won't come cheap."

"Money isn't an option. I simply need the device delivered to me."

Dubois heard a lot of people say that and then they quickly wanted to negotiate once the price was laid out to them. Foreigners always seemed to open their mouths too big. Plenty of room for his boots to fit in. Still, this Genegineer sounded pretty confident of himself. Eric decided he would play along and see just how far this man's commitment ran. Adel probably would have tried to get some amusement out of the man so Eric saw no reason why he shouldn't either.

"You have a location you prefer the device delivered to?"

"I have a compound hidden in Darfur—

"Wait a minute!" Dubois interrupted. "Look, there's no way we're meeting out there. That area is too much of a disaster zone. You're asking me to walk into a mine field literally."

"I'll double whatever your price is to meet at that location."

Eric ran the numbers through his head. "200 million US dollars upon arrival. 20 million before delivery."

"Only if I'm going to be receiving the top of the line item that you have available."

"You'll get it."

"A pleasure to do business with you. The money should be in your associate's account shortly," Genegineer said as he hung the phone up.

Eric pulled the phone away from him and stared at it in awe. Whoever this Genegineer was, Eric knew a few things about him that made him scared. He was loaded, determined, and about to get his hands on some potentially deadly technology. Running a hand through his gritty hair, Eric could only wonder what this man had planned and could only hope it wouldn't render anymore harm to his already broken continent.

**=X= **

Marrow drove another bone dagger into Selene's chest and began pummeling the woman's face with knuckles accentuated by bone growths. Cecelia watched Marrow like people watch a car accident. There was a savagery to the woman that Cecelia neither wanted to interrupt or get in the way of. All she could do was keep the gun pointed at Selene, but it seemed that Marrow was doing a well enough job handling her on her own.

Bringing the punching to a halt, Marrow grabbed Selene by her long raven hair and flung her across the living room. She slammed through the wall and into M's room. Cecelia groaned. "She is going to kill you for that."

"The pretty pretty will get over it," Marrow said as she licked Selene's blood off of her knuckles. "Are you going to keep standing there or are you going to shoot?"

"What?" Cecelia asked confused.

Marrow roughly grabbed Dr. Reyes' wrist and pointed her hand at the gaping hole into M's room. "Shoot her!"

Cecelia did as she was told and began to fire off round after energy round into the room where Selene lay unconscious from Marrow's bloody assault. She could begin to smell the burnt flesh from the attack and while most people would have gagged the two women didn't flinch. Marrow had smelt her share of dead flesh in her short life. The Marauders had not been kind to her people and The Hill had not been kind to her. Cecelia's profession forced her to deal with many trauma patients and burn victims were among the many she had treated in the past.

Lowering her weapon, Cecelia said, "That's enough. We're killing this woman!"

"She took five shurikens from Shatterstar and completely healed her pretty face. I don't think this woman is easily killed if at all. Like our buddy Logan," Marrow said.

"If stabbing people in the neck makes them your buddies then don't include me in that bunch."

Marrow smiled and patted Cecelia on the shoulder. "You're not like the other upworlders. You're beginning to see things how they should be."

A burnt and bloody Selene rose to her feet with rage in her eyes. "You will rue this day young woman. Rest assured."

Purple light began to flash all around Selene and before Marrow could react she was gone. Pounding her fist into an open palm, Marrow said, "You should have kept firing."

Shatterstar groaned as he rose to his feet. "Wouldn't have made a difference. We couldn't kill her your way. Only one way to kill an External and we'd never get that far with Selene."

Dr. Reyes looked at a gash on Shatterstar's forearm and said, "You need to come get this checked, but where do you think she went?"

Marrow laughed. "Isn't it obvious? If Havok and his boys managed to get to Rasputin she's about run smack dab into them."

Cecelia began to examine Shatterstar's wound. "I just hope I don't end up with any more patients before this mission is over."

Marrow laughed. "Wouldn't want to pull you away from your work."

Cecelia bit her tongue and kept looking at Shatterstar. His wound wasn't very deep and would probably heal over in a few days, but it was still bleeding pretty badly so she wanted to get it bandaged up. "Head to the infirmary Star while I take a look at Abyss. Help me with him Marrow."

"Don't think I'm going to be able to do that healer."

"And why can't you?" Cecelia asked as she turned around and any other words died in her mouth.

Abyss was gone.


	5. Chapter 5

**X-FORCE #5**

_Previously: Selene broke free of Abyss' body and was subsequently attacked by Marrow and Dr. Reyes. They managed to hold the sorceress off who vanished to make her way to the meeting between Mikhail Rasputin, Dark Beast, and Savante Adel. She has no idea that Havok, Pipeline, Madrox, and Blind Faith are going to be there. Meanwhile, a lieutenant of Adel's is scheduled to deliver some advanced technology to a man calling himself The Genegineer. _

The old drunkard watched the collection of purple lights form into a damaged woman who collapsed by a trash can only a few feet away from him. He wiped his lips with the back of his hand and mumbled, "Fairies."

Getting up with a bit of a stumble, he made his way to the woman and asked, "Are you alright?"

The woman he believed to be a fairy was crying profusely and he moved in closer. "You don't have to be scared ma'am. I'll take you somewhere."

A burnt glove reached up and wrapped itself around the old drunkard's throat. Through the shadow of the night, violet eyes glared at him. "Where could you possibly take me you old fool?"

He began to gag and struggle against the woman's grip as he felt the very life being drained from him. This was no fairy that had latched onto him. It was a dark demon reaching up from the underworld to pull him in. Valiantly, but futilely he fought against the woman. There were many more bottles of vodka he intended to empty before he called his life quits. Too many prostitutes were out there for him to pleasure.

"Oh just die already," the false fairy said as she drained away the last inch of the drunkard's life leaving him a dried husk. Dusting her hands together, Selene said, "Good riddance. People like you only impede the world."

The burn wounds inflicted upon her were mostly gone and by the time she reached the bidding meeting she would completely healed. Selene had no intention of looking anything less than fabulous when meeting with Adel and her competition. She was not leaving this barren country with The Phalanx in her possession. The External had more to offer than her competitors and she had feminine charm on her side. Charm that would be hampered by a diminished appearance. If an old drunk fool could help her along in returning her beauty then it was probably the first real purpose he had ever had.

Once this matter was resolved, Selene had every intention of tracking down the mutants who ransacked her home and kidnapped her. She had no doubt that they were of Xavier's brood and she would make them pay dearly for crossing her. Despite that, she had to give them credit for one thing. They had proven themselves more violent than Selene ever thought anyone under Xavier's banner would ever be. Perhaps the world had finally broken through Xavier's pitiful walls of peace and harmony. She respected his power, but nothing else. If Shaw, Magneto, and him had not spent all their time bickering, but perhaps working together there is no telling the power they would now possess.

Selene had no problem with attaining such power for herself. She had lived long and had seen the rise and fall of many powerful people. For centuries, she had ruled her own kingdom and if not for Xavier's brood she would still be ruling it. Still, there was a certain charm about the modern world. It was so deliciously deceitful and full of opportunity for a woman such as herself.

As she stepped into the Russian night with clothing that would do any dominatrix proud, Selene took a deep breath and said, "Time to show these men how it's done."

**=X=**

Mikhail's limo pulled into the empty parking lot slowly. Inside the limo, Mikhail had his eyes closed and was concentrating on his surroundings. After a few minutes, Rasputin looked up and said, "Doesn't look like we have to worry about any explosives."

"What were you doing?" Madrox asked.

"Part of my mutant abilities allows me to alter the molecular structure of matter. I've learned to focus that to feel out the very essence of my environment. A sort of sonar if you will."

Blind Faith smiled. "Very clever. Always nice to see mutants not forgetting they had a brain before they had their powers."

"It's kept me alive many nights," Mikhail said. "I think that is probably the best hope for our kind. The more we can apply our mutant abilities the better we'll be at surviving."

Havok knew that not every mutant had that option available to them. Some mutants were cursed with abilities that sometimes proved fatal or were completely uncontrollable. Alex had struggled with controlling his powers for some time and was just now coming to a place where he was having some mastery of them. That had taken years and being around other mutants who had their abilities in check. He thought of Ororo who had to keep her emotions under control at all time lest she create a giant hurricane in the Atlantic or tornado in Central Park. Then there was Angelica whose powers had nearly made her sterile at one point. Not all mutants were blessed.

"No matter how good we get at using our abilities we'll still be hunted. We have to try to find some peace with humanity," Madrox said.

"Spoken like a true follower of Xavier," Mikhail said. "Not all things are so simple. The Professor has done an amazing job with his X-Corporation and I actually find myself quite impressed. Despite that, I don't think his efforts will ever get the results he truly desires. Humans still hate each other. What chance is there they'll stop hating us?"

"Doesn't mean we stop trying," Madrox said. "Stop trying and you end up like Grimshaw over there."

Havok jumped in before anything exploded. "Jamie enough. You keep prodding at Pipeline because of Rahne. I get it, but if you want someone to shoot your mouth at then try me on. I was a Magistrate and it was me that she was attached to."

Jamie's eyes narrowed. He didn't like being laid bare. "You didn't know what you were doing. He did."

"Or maybe you're scared to try me like you keep trying him," Havok said.

Mikhail laughed. "I hope you all get this out of the way before Savante arrives. I need you as back-up. Not a distraction."

Havok kept his glare on Jamie. "You don't have to worry about that Mikhail. Isn't that right Jamie?"

Jamie looked down at the limo floor and mumbled, "Right."

Pipeline gave Alex a silent thank you. He didn't like Havok coming to his rescue, but his method of shutting Jamie up didn't involve broken bones. Pipeline wasn't proud of his past, but he wasn't going to run from it either. If Jamie had kept going the way he was going, Pipeline intended to show him exactly why he was one of the best Magistrates to ever grace Genosha.

**=X=**

Dark Beast watched the limo pull into the empty parking lot through his binoculars. He was on a rooftop a few hundred feet away. Handing the binoculars back to Agent X, he said, "I would assume that is either Rasputin or Adel. No way of knowing for sure with just binoculars."

"I already did a bio-scan of the vehicle. It is Rasputin in there. He's brought Havok and the others along with him."

Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Dark Beast said, "It seems things are going to be more interesting than I thought. No matter what I intend to walk away from here with The Phalanx in my possession."

"If that's what you want sir then that's what you'll get."

McCoy intended Agent X to be instrumental in his walking away with what he wanted. Dark Beast had no illusions about this deal ending peacefully. There were too many volatile elements involved now for that to happen. Agent X had proven himself far more than his previous agents thus far. He had the dedication of Ever, the ruthless efficiency of Fatale and the raw rage of Havok.

"Perhaps there is a way for the two of us to achieve our mutual interests."

Agent X immediately turned to the source of the voice and fired off five rounds from his gun. The bullets blazed towards Selene, but were stopped right before striking the woman. They turned to dust and the Russian wind caught them in its grasp. Selene, clearly annoyed, said, "I've had enough with being shot today."

Dark Beast grinned and shrugged. "Unexpected visitors do that to him. He gets shaky."

"Well, I haven't come here to fight," Selene said. "You can tell your pet to put down the gun."

"I'd actually prefer he keep it up," Dark Beast replied. "I'm not sure I entirely trust you."

Selene put her hands on her hips. "Fine, but one bullet touches me and I'm draining you of all your color."

"So babes I'm sure you're hear with some juicy offer to make. Let's get to it."

Selene groaned inwardly at the man's juvenility. "I want to walk away with The Phalanx and you do as well. What I propose is this. Eliminate Rasputin and Adel taking The Phalanx for ourselves and splitting them. I don't need two Phalanx."

"And neither do I," Dark Beast said. "But what intentions do you have with The Phalanx? Doesn't seem like something you'd get in to."

"A weapon like The Phalanx would give me a great deal of leverage within The Hellfire Club. My intentions are simple. It's yours that give me reason to pause."

"Well, you can wipe that sweat off your forehead. I'm not going to cause Armageddon or anything. I just need them for an experiment in something you have intimate knowledge about," Dark Beast said.

Selene folded her arms across her chest. "And to think I trusted you with my motives."

The otherworldly geneticist laughed. "Toots I know you didn't tell half of what you have planned. Heads like yours go tick tock in all kinds of different directions."

"So do we have a deal or not?"

"Don't see why not," Dark Beast said. "You can drop the gun now."

Agent X did as he was told and said, "Sorry. Just making sure the boss doesn't get hurt."

Not even taking the time to directly respond to him, Selene said, "He's quite loyal. He must not have known I could have set him on fire with just a thought."

Agent X looked at Dark Beast with shock and his creator shrugged. "Can't divulge all the information all the time. Didn't want you scared of her."

"As well he should have been," Selene said. "Still, I give him points for courage."

"So you could have just iced me from the start?" Agent X asked. He didn't like being made a fool and he felt like the biggest donkey in the classroom at the moment.

Dark Beast jumped in. "I wouldn't say iced. She would have put a licking on you, but I built you to be tough. You'd have done alright."

Selene laughed. "Don't give the boy false hope."

**=X=**

"I hope this goes fast. I have too much to attend at home. I don't want Eric trying to take any of my money," Adel said from the backseat of his Lexus as his assistant drove him into the empty parking lot. In his lap were two silver canisters labeled DANGEROUS in neon green letters.

From the front seat, his assistant said, "If you didn't trust Eric to handle your affairs why did you leave him in charge?"

"Because I needed you with me and outside of you Eric is probably the only other person capable of manning my operation while I'm globe trotting."

"Then I would suggest hiring some new help."

"Is that a roundabout way of asking for a vacation?" Adel asked.

The Moroccan woman smiled and looked in the rearview mirror. "Maybe. A trip to the Bahamas would be lovely."

"I'll think about it if we get through this deal in one piece," Adel said. "I don't like dealing with these mutant types."

"Then why deal with them at all sir?" the assistant asked as she put the car in park.

"Because they always seem to have loads of money coming out of thin air. The point of the game is out to make it out with the money in one piece."

A vibration rung up Adel's leg and reached into his pocket to pull out his cell phone. He looked at who the call was coming from and sighed. "Eric."

Picking up he said, "This had better be good. I'm about to conduct business. What was his name? How much is he offering? My lord. Are you serious? I want a full background check. Find whatever information you can before making the drop. I expect something waiting for me when I get back home."

As he disconnected the call, his assistant asked, "What was that about?"

"Some clown called The Genegineer wants one of our neogenics devices. He's offering 220 million for it. He's already delivered 20 million of the deal. See what I mean about those mutant types?"

"Well then I guess we better get this show started," the assistant said as she opened up the car door and stepped out to let Adel out from the backseat.

"Just remember the plan if things go sour," Adel said as he hug the two canisters tight to him.

The young Moroccan beauty smiled, pulled a handkerchief from her blouse, and wiped Adel's forehead. "Of course sir. Now stop sweating so much."

**=X=**

Mikhail looked out his window and said, "He's getting out of the car. I was only supposed to bring one person with me. Blind Faith I suggest that person be you. Everyone just hang tight back here and be ready to strike when I give the signal."

Madrox looked around and asked, "What's the signal?"

"I'll mention Putin. Whenever I do go for it," Mikhail said.

Havok nodded. "We'll be ready. Just be careful. Selene and Dark Beast have no intention of relinquishing The Phalanx."

Mikhail's expression hardened. "And neither do I. Trust me comrade. We'll get what we came here for."

It wasn't Mikhail's resolve that he doubted, but the ruthlessness of Dark Beast and Selene that he feared. He had never encountered the Selene of this world in any major way, but the information that Emma had provided to him was enough for him to know that she was not a woman to be trifled with. Dark Beast, on the other hand, was someone Alex had long personal experience with. The man was a monster through and through. He would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. Havok knew the man's cruelty and malice was only limited by his genius intellect. A frightening thing for a man with a soul like his to possess.

"Why do I get the feeling we're about to walk into a firefight?" Pipeline asked.

"Like you didn't know that from the jump," Madrox said.

"Not what I mean Madrox. What I mean is I get the feeling we're not coming out of this one winners. Too many variables involved."

Havok saw Pipeline's point of view, but said, "I have an ace in the hole on this one Grimshaw. Trust me."


	6. Chapter 6

**X-FORCE #6**

Previously: Mikhail and Alex have arrived at the rendezvous point with Savante, but Alex has to cut short some internal drama before addressing the matter at hand. Adel is informed by his assistance that someone is attempting to buy neogenic equipment for unknown purposes. Meanwhile Selene has struck an uneasy deal with The Dark Beast to split the Phalanx specimens between them. And Abyss is still missing…

Havok stepped out of one side of the limo and Mikhail came from the other. The two met at the back of the vehicle and walked to where black market dealer, Savante Adel, was waiting for them. At his side was a young, beautiful Moroccan woman full of sass and life. Her glowing posture seemed odd against the backdrop of a cold Russian night. Alex wasn't sure how or why a girl like her was involved in a world like Adel's and he was positive he didn't want to know. Her youthful face belayed an innocence that Havok didn't want to imagine extinguished. In his life he had paid witness to the innocence of many being crushed to nothing.

Despite himself, he remembered when he first met Lorna. She had been as wide-eyed about the world as he was and that common connection had drawn them together. Maybe it was the loss of their innocence that had pushed them apart. Then there was Scotty. He had left his son in a broken world with very few heroes left to defend it. Alex hated to think what obstacles Scotty had to face. His son deserved to have a normal life, but being a mutant wasn't going to allow that. In a world of hate and prejudice, innocence became a liability.

There was nothing innocent about where he was at now. The asphalt was stained with the blood of corruption and the icy air was being heated by the breaths of those who had sinned. Black shadows hung around all who were involved in today's proceedings. The shadows kept the light from judging their affairs. Havok didn't like the tightness of the environment. It wasn't good for a fight and it certainly wasn't advantageous for his powers. They weren't looking to draw the attention of the Russian government, but Havok was prepared to fight if necessary. He just wished it wouldn't have to involve so much property damage.

Mikhail and Alex stepped in front of Adel and Rasputin held out his hand for it to be shaken by the Ethiopian. With a smile full of corrupt teeth, Adel said, "It is good to see you in the flesh Rasputin. Internet conferences don't quite have the personal touch I  
like to take with my clients."

Havok hated that smile. It reminded him of a better man he knew a long time ago. He did his best to not let it show. Adel looked Alex straight in the eye and asked, "One of your bodyguards?"

"Yes and no. He's a friend. Wanted to make sure I walked away from this in one piece," Mikhail said.

Adel laughed and his belly shook. "I have no intentions of that sort Mikhail. I am a businessman."

"I believe he was referring to me," Dark Beast said as he walked out of darkness to the east with Agent X to one side and Selene to the other. "Me and him have a bit of a history."

Adel's expression turned stern. "Well, I am a man of business and I don't want any bloodshed mixed into my business dealings. Is that clear?"

Mikhail folded his arms across his chest and glared at McCoy. "Crystal."

Giving a large, toothy grin McCoy said, "Of course Savante. I am only after what I came here to bid for."

"As am I," Selene said not wanting to be forgotten.

Savante nodded in the direction of the immortal. "Madame Selene. I am glad to see you could make it. Your company is always a pleasure."

Selene faked an embarrassed laugh. "You do me too much homage. Please go on."

Savante's ego had just been properly stroked. "My lady I would do much more than simply flatter you."

Havok's stomach turned at the flirting between the two. Alex wondered just how far Selene might be able to get with her good looks if the rest of them weren't around. She would probably clean Adel dry of any and all merchandise. Selene was a woman well aware of the power of her femininity. She exploited it at every moment and usually to a man's regret. Thousands of years of practice were under her belt when it came to wooing men. Unless you knew her true nature, she wasn't often denied.

Mikhail intended to save Adel that regret. "She is not your type Adel. Not unless you like for the life to literally be sucked out of you. That is where she gets her kicks comrade."

Selene turned a pair of hateful eyes on the Russian. "You speak out of turn Mikhail. You would be wise to not do so again."

"Ladies, ladies! Can we just get this on already? I'm on a tight schedule," Dark Beast said.

Adel looked back to his assistant and nodded. Turning back to his potential buyers, he sat his two canisters on the asphalt and said, "We will begin opening bids starting off at ten million."

"I'll double it," Mikhail said. "Twenty million."

Selene gave a cool bid. "Twenty-five million."

Dark Beast shook his head. "Chump change. Fifty million."

Havok watched glee exploded upon Adel's face. He was like an old man having three beautiful women fight over him. If he got too much more excited they were going to have to take him to the hospital. Alex had never gotten use to large amounts of money being thrown around. He had never had a lot of money having spent his life as a part of one organization or another. Seeing fifty million on paper was one thing, but to see it offered up like it was a Wal-Mart transaction baffled him. Still, it wasn't like the item wasn't important. The Phalanx had been a threat that nearly destroyed the planet. Having a couple at your disposal would make you a very dangerous person.

With absolute conviction, Mikhail said, "Fifty-five million."

"Are you sure this is a man you want to be dealing with?" Dark Beast asked. "He brings X-Men to see you face to face. I don't think he can be trusted."

Adel's eyes went wide and he looked at Rasputin with rage. "He's an X-Man?!"

Alex spoke for the first time. "A former X-Man. I care no more for them now than I did when I worked with Dark Beast."

The Dark Beast licked his lips. "You know you loved every minute of it."

The time had Havok had spent with McCoy had been a necessary evil. He had thought that the only way to take down a fiend like The Dark Beast was to destroy him from within. So he allied himself with the man in the hopes of annihilating him. The attempt had failed, but Havok had taken a valuable lesson from it. He had learned just how far he was willing to go in the pursuit of something he was felt was right.

X-Force was such a thing for him. He would go as far and deep as he needed to go to make this team succeed. Xavier's new hope deserved to be protected at all costs and he wasn't going to let the machinations of men like Dark Beast to have the last word. Xavier's way deserved to be given time to work and grow. As long as there were people like Selene around who were frozen in their ways then progress would never be achieved. X-Force was to be the line in the sand for people unwilling to change.

Adel was unwilling to turn from his anger. "You actually brought an X-Man here? I cannot believe you Rasputin. I knew your brother was one, but I thought you rolled with a different crew."

"I do," Mikhail said, "And you heard him. Former X-Man. He works for me now."

Dark Beast wiped his nose with the back of his hand and laughed. "We'll see how long that goes. I know."

Adel was completely flustered. "I don't know what's going on here, but I'm not going to be a part of it. The deal's off! I'm taking my merchandise with me."

Agent X in a split second let loose his gun and shot Adel's assistant in the shoulder. The woman was flung back into their vehicle and Adel found Agent X's barrel staring right at him. Lacking no confidence, Agent X said, "This deal was over before it even started."

"Oh I've been waiting for this," Havok said as he unleashed a blast directly at Dark Beast. It hit McCoy square in his chest and sent him flying into a rusty dumpster. "Team now!"

Blind Faith and Pipeline rolled out of the limo shooting energy weapons at Selene, who quickly threw up a telekinetic shield to defend herself. Madrox came out of the limo last and immediately split himself into eight dupes. Seven of the dupes pulled out old  
fashioned magnums and unloaded the bullets the direction of Agent X.

"Good ol metal slugs," Agent X said as he fired off a series of shots from his long-barreled golden gun. The bullets he let go sought out the bullets attacking them like heat-seeking missiles. His bullets collided with the dupes' and sent them all crashing to the ground without landing a scratch on Agent X. He winked in the direction of his attackers. "Nice try boys, but I'm packing."

"Bet you never heard a woman tell you that," the eighth dupe said as he tackled Agent X from the side and drove a Bowie knife into the side of the mutant's neck.

Savante watched the exploding violence in shocked awe. Mikhail quickly came to his side and enveloped them in an energy field. "And you thought I was the untrustworthy one."

"Obviously, I was mistaken," Adel said with a gulp. "This is madness."

"This is the life we lead I'm afraid," Mikhail sighed. "Let's get your assistance out of here. I can teleport you two far away from here, but I'll need the canisters to stay behind."

"What?" Adel said gripping the Phalanx even harder. "You would try to swindle me."

Mikhail's face was stone. "Or would you prefer you leave with those two?"

Adel shoved the canisters into Rasputin's chest. "Fine! Get me out of here! But don't think I won't forget this. I have friends Rasputin."

"As do I," Mikhail said. "Now let's try and help yours."

=X=

Havok turned his attention from Dark Beast and began to lay his cosmic radiation on Selene's telekinetic field. Pouring the power on, sweat began to trickle down Havok's brow and descended to his chin. Alex wasn't firing a burst with a large spread, but instead a more focused, more intense beam. It was the cosmic difference between a garden hose and a fire hose. He knew that it might not be enough to make Selene crack, but it would be enough to catch her attention.

"You are indeed a Summers," Selene said as she fought back against the power of Havok. "Tell Rachel hello for me when you get a chance."

"Why don't you do it yourself?" Havok asked through gritted teeth. Keeping up a concentrated burst this long would take its toll. "Afraid she'll hand you your dentures again?"

Selene's eyes went wide with shock. Even after thousands of years, Selene was at her core still a woman and a woman's age was never food for mockery. "You would call me old? You know nothing of old cretin! Let the oldest shadows wrap around you and grind you to dust."

Black vines ripped up from the ground and wrapped around Alex's ankles. Havok had nothing to grip on to as he was thrust upwards. He soon had company as Blind Faith, Pipeline, the Madrox Dupes, Agent X, and Dark Beast were all enveloped in the black tendrils that Selene had summoned forth. Dark Beast laughed as he hung upside down.

"What a predicament to be in. Well, I guess it's my good fortune that unlike other women she didn't try to hang me by a more sensitive pair of body parts."

Havok snarled at the laughing McCoy. "Do you have a comment for everything?"

"Aww it's just like old times," Dark Beast said. "You and me just hanging out. Doesn't it make you feel young?"

Selene rose up through the air and laughed in Havok's face. "It never changes. Men never learn to say the right thing."

Havok reached up with his free hand and wrapped it around Selene's throat. He began to pour cosmic energy into her body with everything he could muster. For while he didn't claim to understand women; he did know a good deal about arrogance. He had faced down his fair share of arrogant people and they all had one thing in common. When they get to the point they think they've succeeded they leave holes. Holes of opportunity that you can dig yourself into and make their graves with.

"Should have never dropped your shield," Havok grunted as Selene's body shook violently and her skin burned.

The tendrils holding him and the others began to dissipate and Havok let Selene's body drop hard onto the asphalt. Dark Beast and Agent X landed with thuds as well. Mikhail had saved the members of X-Force from rough landing by teleporting them beside him. He helped Havok to his feet and said, "I obtained the Phalanx from Adel. My driver has been listening to radio signals and it won't be long before The Winter Guard shows up."

"Then I guess we don't have any more business here," Havok said.

Mikhail nodded and they all were teleported away leaving Dark Beast and Agent X with a badly injured Selene. A singed Dark Beast lumbered over to Selene and waved a finger over the immortal mutant. "Tsk tsk Selene. You were acting naughty."

Agent X twirled his gun between his fingers. "Should I give her one?"

"No," Dark Beast said. His voice had taken on a suddenly serious tone. "We'll tango with her another day."

As the two walked away from the burnt Selene, Agent X said, "You know she's going to kill us for not getting the Phalanx."

"I'm well aware. But I don't think we came out of this entirely empty handed," Dark Beast said.

Agent X's attention peaked up. "How is that?"

"If there is one man I know its Alex Summers. He's up to something and she'll want to know what it is."

=X=

Emma Frost rubbed her hands across her face through the computer console. "Fighting out in the open? You were cutting it close Havok."

Havok was standing at perfect attention in front of Emma. He didn't feel that she necessarily deserved that level of respect, but he wanted to portray to the rest of his team what it meant to respect leadership. Actions being able to speak louder than words being his rationale for that.

"We're going to constantly run into risks like that Emma. If we're to be thought of as a paramilitary unit then you must understand that military plans never go according to plan. We did achieve our objective and that is what's important."

Emma nodded. She didn't like it, but she understood it. "You keep those Phalanx locked tighter than Cyclops' behind. And I want to know how Adel even got his hands on the things in the first place. Pitiful little third worlders don't need to be playing with first  
class toys."

"We'll take care of that, but we have a more pressing matter," Havok said. "Our teammate is missing and I have a strong feeling who has him."

Emma groaned. "That woman has no concept of what it means to let go."

"Don't worry. I'll teach her," Havok said. "No comes after my team."

**Next Issue: Abyss alone in Selene's den!**


	7. Chapter 7

X-FORCE# 7

"Dancing with The Dark Lady"

**Previously: Selene and Dark Beast's alliance was thwarted and Mikhail was able to retrieve Adel's Phalanx samples. But there is still the question of where Abyss is…**

Grogginess didn't begin to describe what Abyss was feeling. He couldn't see, hear or think straight. The last thing he remembered was watching Robot Boy with the always positive Marrow (note the dripping sarcasm). Then he was here strapped down on some medieval torture table. He wasn't sure what the thing was called, but he knew  
that it was used to stretch people out. And it was most definitely not in the chiropractor kind of way.

"Marrow? Guys? This stopped being funny about ten minutes ago," Abyss said as he tugged at the straps holding him down. Deep down he knew that none of his teammates had anything to do with his current predicament. Something much deeper was going on and Nils began to feel like whatever it was, he was going to have to face it all on his lonesome. It wasn't the preferred option, but it was what he was realistically looking at.

Hanging on the wall in front of the Genoshan was a large portrait of a raven-haired Roman woman wrapped in a passionate kiss with a Roman gladiator. Behind them were the slain bodies of people and animals of wrath, but she's just happy that he arrived to plant his kiss on her. There was something sinisterly alluring about the picture in its display of raw, uncontrolled lust. Abyss had never once experienced such a thing. Unbridled passion like that wasn't something that Mutates were allowed to have. It was stripped from them just like every other emotion. Abyss had never really known anything close to romance. After being freed from his bonding, it was a struggle for Abyss to feel anything past anger. That had been the first emotion he had latched on to and it was one beginning to bubble in his chest now.

Tugging again at his bonds, Abyss heard the clicking of heels from the stairway in the corner of the cellar. He struggled to lift his head up and see the source. The voice was heard before the face was seen. "I'm surprised you're awake. Most are quite drained after a feeding."

Finally managing to lift his head up, Abyss saw his sultry captor and took a nice long minute to say a string of cuss words in his head. She smiled at him and said, "Don't look so pale darling. I only want to have a little fun."

"I don't think your definition of kinky quite matches up with mine Selene," Abyss said.

The External pressed a black finger against his lips and shushed him. "You might want to play nice Abyss. After all, we got off to such a rocky start."

Yanking at his chains, Abyss glared down the sorceress. "Doesn't look like we're getting much better."

Abyss watched a wicked smile cross the woman's face and knew that he had only managed to make her mad. M smiled like that just when she was starting to plot ways to get even with you. It wasn't as if the Genoshan was unfairly getting picked on by Selene. He had sucked her into a dark dimension absent of light and sound. Living in such a world had to be a maddening existence and Selene had spent enough time in it to build up a healthy amount of resentment.

"Oh don't worry boy," Selene said with a tinge of annoyance. She folded her arms across her chest and looked at Abyss as if he were a bad child. "If I wanted to kill you I would have done it already. I'm not like Sebastian. I don't play with my prey."

"Well…I guess that's good news. Who's Sebastian?"

Selene threw back her luxurious hair and laughed. "Oh child you are quite amusing. That is the question you choose to ask out of the many more important ones you could have. Youth always manages to surprise me."

Abyss' blank eyes demanded an answer nonetheless and Selene groaned in response. "He's an old friend I hate. Always standing in my way. Thinking he's the law of the land and none can oppose him."

Nils grinned. "Sounds like you guys were a couple."

Selene was horrified. "Never! The thought of that man touching me makes my skin crawl."

A cold, awkward silence fell between the two. Selene stared at Abyss and he stared at the ceiling. It continued in stride until Abyss asked, "So why am I here if you aren't trying to tear me apart?"

The immortal shrugged. "Boredom mostly. I haven't had much company as of late. Trying to strike it out on your own is a lonely expedition."

Abyss' tension nearly melted away. He imagined a woman with as much experience as Selene could probably talk for hours on end, but that was a far sight better than being stretched to oblivion. Or maybe she wanted company of another kind. That thought made Abyss' heart race despite himself and it was at that moment he noticed just how  
beautiful Selene was. He had never seen a woman whose clothes so perfectly fit her.

Like a teenage boy struggling to make his first move, Nils mumbled out, "So what do you want to talk about?"

The immortal smiled. "That was easy. I figured you'd have to be broken."

Abyss laughed. "I'm a mutate. My whole life was about being broken."

"Fair enough," Selene said as she pulled up a seat to where Abyss was strapped in. "If I let you go do you promise not to be naughty?"

"I think it's already been proven you have more than enough firepower to take me out if I do."

Selene laughed and it seemed genuine. She waved a hand and Abyss' straps vanished like smoke. "It would seem I was lucky. I didn't pick a pretentious one."

Abyss lifted himself up off the table and sat on it with his legs dangling back and forth. Selene seemed completely comfortable with the idea of him being free. She wasn't the least bit concerned and Nils felt a bit embarrassed by that. He was supposed to be a fearsome member of X-Force and here an opponent wasn't even scared by his presence. Still, he couldn't help to notice how beautiful she was.

"So who's the guy in the picture?" Abyss asked looking behind Selene at the painting of pure lust. He was kinda wishing he could be that guy right about now, but then again…Selene did sap the life out of people. Nils was now wondering if the guy was even still around.

Selene looked back at the picture and Abyss could have sworn he saw her eyes gloss over. "His name was Eliphas."

Abyss was now curious and intended to see just how much this man played a part in her life. "So you're just going to give me a name? Where was he from?"

Selene laughed. "You can't tell?"

Nils shrugged. "I was a mutate. They didn't have time to teach us history."

"Of course. Humans and their pesky little devices. Well, I suppose I can tell a bit about Eliphas then since you have sufficiently made me feel pompous."

Abyss gave a little smug smile at that and Selene started her story. "I met Eliphas when I first came to Rome. I found the city and culture so fascinating and beautiful. He was a Centurion and one of the best so naturally I was drawn to him. We began a love affair and eventually I revealed my true nature to him."

"How did he respond?" Abyss asked. He felt like he was hearing about some great love affair of the ancient world. Selene spoke like the truest storyteller and he could only imagine the things she had seen and the experiences she had. It was enough to almost make him forget how deadly she really was.

"He was actually quite ecstatic about it. Eliphas was always an ambitious man and he believed that the gods had sent me to him so that he could become Emperor of Rome."

Abyss frowned when he heard that. "Didn't sound like he was too concerned with love at that point?"

"And if only I had been able to see it then," Selene said. "But I let myself think that his ambitions were mine so I taught him magic. Made him like me, an immortal."

Abyss looked back at the painting and he didn't see the same thing anymore. There wasn't lust. Only manipulation. He could hardly believe, but he felt sorry for Selene. Nils had never experienced any sort of romantic love, but now he was beginning to wonder if he was better off for it?

"He actually became quite powerful and began to rival even me, but I wasn't concerned. I thought he loved me, but he became more and more anxious. He wanted to strike at Rome, but I cautioned him to let us bide our time."

Abyss said something that caught even himself off guard, "You were starting to be afraid of him."

Selene's eyes flashed anger and then subsided. "No mortal has heard such an admission from me in a very long time, but yes, I was afraid."

"Why didn't you put him down? You were his teacher so—

"Love can make even an immortal do foolish things, but you are right. There are things I held back from him and it was that which saved me and all of Rome. Eliphas, without my knowledge, was trying to summon a demonic army to blanket all of Rome."

Abyss really had no concept of demons. He heard Alex talk about them before with Dr. Reyes, but beyond that he had no real experience. So he couldn't really visualize what it was that Selene was talking about and he wanted to. "What did the demons look like?"

"They were not of any specific variety, but they were all evil and all uncontrollable. So before he could summon the army I cast a spell to lock him away. I haven't felt his presence since."

Abyss wasn't sure what to make of the story. "So you actually wanted to save Rome?"

"Despite what some may have you believe, world domination is not my goal. I only wish for it to benefit me in every way possible. Ruling the world is a task best left to foolish men. And part of me had a tremendous love for the Roman way of life. I could not see Eliphas snuff it out."

Another crucial question struck Nils. "Then why keep the painting up?"

Selene stood up and appeared more serious than she had during their entire exchange. "Because when you get to be as old as I am you can forget things and Eliphas is not something I wanted to forget. My pupil is too dangerous. That is another reason why I have brought you here."

"Huh? I don't get it," Abyss said.

"I haven't felt Eliphas' presence in over two thousand years, but I felt it a few weeks ago. It was why your leader was able to best me in my combat. The power of Eliphas' presence jarred me to my core. Eliphas is free and your ilk needs to know about it."

"So you want us to do your dirty work for you?" Abyss asked feeling a bit smeared. He was being regulated into being a messenger boy.

"No. Make no mistake. I will find Eliphas and lock him back where he belongs, but if I fail in this task there will need to be others to do what I could not. Especially since, you and yours took what I intended to use as a weapon against him."

Abyss's face dropped. "The Phalanx samples…but why didn't you—

"Would any of you have believed me?" Selene asked. "Do you even believe me now?"

Abyss, again not knowing why, reached out and grabbed Selene's hand. "I believe you. There are certain things it's hard for people to hide and being hurt is one of them. I don't think you ever needed that painting. Eliphas is well in mind."

Selene yanked her hand back and turned away from Abyss. "You know nothing about me Nils! Why would I feel for one pathetic man? I have burned civilizations to the ground. I do not love."

"Maybe not anymore," Abyss said. "I'll tell them about Eliphas and we'll help you stop him."

The External looked into the eyes of Abyss and saw something had not been directed her way in a very long time. In the world she lived in it was rare to see such a thing, but Abyss was looking at her with kindness. She almost laughed at how transparent the mutant was, but she couldn't deny that it felt almost good to not be looked upon with suspicion.

"Do not trust everyone so easily Nils. There are far too many who would take advantage of it."

"Look, I'm no fool Selene. I know the things you've done and the people you've hurt. So some might call it karma for you to get hurt yourself, but I take no pleasure in other people's pain. And if Eliphas is as dangerous as you make him sound then old rivalries will need to be put aside in order to stop him."

"Then you trust me?"

Abyss nodded. "And don't give me a reason not to."

Selene laughed. "And to think I started this conversation with the upper hand."

"Its all part of my James Bond charm. Wins the ladies over every time!"

"Trust me. I have met Sean Connery in his James Bond days. Movies are really nothing like life," Selene said as she walked to Abyss and planted a kiss on his cheek.

If the Mutate could blush he would be fire red about now. "So yea…ummm…yea…I'll tell the guys about Eliphas."

"Good. Go in peace Abyss," Selene said as the spot where she kissed him began to glow and disappeared in a flash.

Looking back at the painting, the External collapsed to her knees, buried her face in her hands, and began to sob. She had only told Abyss the parts that would not break her.

_Damn you Eliphas. I swear I shall put you back where you belong._

**=X=**

Abyss appeared back in front of the TV from which he had vanished from in the first place. Sitting on the couch were Madrox and Pipeline who both jumped back in surprise when he appeared.

"Nils! Where the hell have you been?" Madrox asked as he jumped up from the couch.

Pipeline did as well, but not for the same reason. "Easy Jamie. That might be Selene in there."

Abyss gave Pipeline the finger. "Exactly why I hate Magistrates. Always paranoid as shit."

Havok rushed into the room with M by his side. He said to Madrox and Pipeline, "Easy boys. He's the real deal."

M tapped her head. "My telepathy was tutored by Emma Frost, whose one step away from perfection."

"So what happened Abyss? How did you get away from Selene?"

Abyss pulled his lips back and began to rock on his heels. "It's a long story and we got ourselves a problem."

Next Issue: Triple-sized issue on the way as the team deals with its many internal problems and heads to Somalia to track down The Genegineer. But who's tracking them down?


	8. Chapter 8

Conversation between "blambert04" and "X C33d"

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[Fri Apr 24 2009 07:54:23 AM] **X C33d**: Yo  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 07:56:38 AM] **blambert04**: hey  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 07:56:39 AM] **blambert04**: wassup  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 07:56:56 AM] **X C33d**: Not much  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 07:57:07 AM] **X C33d**: Friday!  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 07:58:56 AM] **blambert04**: i know right  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 07:59:22 AM] **X C33d**: The best day ending in Y  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:00:59 AM] **blambert04**: indeed  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:02:16 AM] **X C33d**: What up with you?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:03:18 AM] **blambert04**: doing a lil homework.  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:03:26 AM] **X C33d**: On what?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:04:34 AM] **blambert04**: Composition and Theory  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:05:56 AM] **blambert04**: lame stuff i know  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:06:35 AM] **X C33d**: But I can't throw stones, I'm taking Intellectual property rights  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:06:42 AM] **X C33d**: Teacher ran outta cool stuff after week 3  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:07:56 AM] **blambert04**: lol  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:08:17 AM] **X C33d**: He knows it too  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:09:30 AM] **blambert04**: ahh that's even worse  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:10:31 AM] **X C33d**: Eh, he's a nice guy and it's an easy grade. I'll take it  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:11:42 AM] **blambert04**: yea can't beat that  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:14:18 AM] **X C33d**: .com/?page=preview&id=2472&disp=table  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:14:32 AM] **X C33d**: Your favorite immortal witch ;)  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:17:07 AM] **blambert04**: look like she's going to kick some ass  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:17:31 AM] **X C33d**: Yup  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:17:51 AM] **X C33d**: Shame this isn't a canon series. Man MU villains get too little pimping  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:18:37 AM] **blambert04**: way too little  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:20:43 AM] **X C33d**: Might bug Josh about doing a villain mini at M2K  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:20:50 AM] **blambert04**: starring?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:20:52 AM] **X C33d**: Got a vague idea for a villain union  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:21:32 AM] **blambert04**: oh ok  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:21:38 AM] **X C33d**: Thunderball, Shocker, Spiral and Midas, among others  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:22:33 AM] **X C33d**: Wrecker would be on the outs, Thunderball a top guy, Midas pissing off the entire villain community  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:23:24 AM] **blambert04**: ahh ok  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:26:53 AM] **blambert04**: Midas hasn't shown up since AWC  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:28:13 AM] **X C33d**: He was in the Avengers/JLA crossover  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:28:41 AM] **blambert04**: oh yea that's right  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:28:42 AM] **blambert04**: forgot  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:30:00 AM] **X C33d**: Bad Brent, bad!  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:30:19 AM] **blambert04**: lol remembering m2k continuity is no longer my concern  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:30:59 AM] **X C33d**: It was JLU too!  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:32:19 AM] **blambert04**: which i barely read  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:32:42 AM] **X C33d**: You make puppies cry, Brent  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:34:11 AM] **blambert04**: i do need to make sure i get caught up on MA though. especially if i'm having guest appearances and what nt  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:35:32 AM] **X C33d**: Diddy Moa!  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:40:08 AM] **X C33d**: Though aren't you just doing X stuff?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:41:27 AM] **blambert04**: yea i am, but i would still like to be up on everything  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:41:44 AM] **blambert04**: same way i was at m2k. i intend to be the best assest to MA I possibly can be  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:45:22 AM] **X C33d**: Ah, okay  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:46:49 AM] **blambert04**: yea. i'm really thinking about downsizing alot of my titles and zooming in on MA  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:47:04 AM] **X C33d**: Which titles?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:47:37 AM] **X C33d**: .net/  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:47:54 AM] **blambert04**: well by the end of the year or at least the summer i would like to be down to just X-Men (AV2K), Defenders (Reborn), and my MA titles  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:48:12 AM] **X C33d**: Not Omega?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:48:15 AM] **X C33d**: You suck  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:50:01 AM] **blambert04**: well dino is so wheatley-esque right now i'm not sure i wanna walk that road again  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:51:21 AM] **X C33d**: What, his crossover?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:51:33 AM] **X C33d**: Doesn't seem that bad  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:51:52 AM] **X C33d**: Err...I guess I should say, depending on the status qou left over  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:52:05 AM] **blambert04**: not just the crossover. his leadership style  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:52:35 AM] **blambert04**: either way i've been on those titles for a minute. and MA is ten times the better environment  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:53:56 AM] **X C33d**: Just keep X-Factor, and I won't kill ya ;)  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:54:14 AM] **blambert04**: we'll see man.  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:54:41 AM] **blambert04**: but Erik actually wants to utilize me at his site. Dino...i think he wouldn't bat an eye if i left  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:54:59 AM] **X C33d**: You're te only Brent Lambert in the state, remember that!  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:55:34 AM] **X C33d**: Dino Pollard. That's not his real name, how'd he come to be known by that, btw?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:55:36 AM] **blambert04**: again. why stay somewhere you're either not wanted or appreciated?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:55:42 AM] **blambert04**: he started off calling himself that  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:56:00 AM] **X C33d**: Any reason?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:57:27 AM] **blambert04**: i don't know  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:57:45 AM] **X C33d**: Eh, whatever. Justr curious  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:58:05 AM] **X C33d**: And for me, doesn't matter if people like me. I like the title, I stay  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:58:13 AM] **X C33d**: That's how we still got FW ;)  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:58:35 AM] **blambert04**: but that's cuz you came into fanfic for the title  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:58:39 AM] **blambert04**: i'm here for the community aspect  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:58:50 AM] **blambert04**: and that's what determines whether i stay or go  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:59:11 AM] **blambert04**: and ignoring that part is what had me drudging through the motions at m2k  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:59:45 AM] **X C33d**: Stick it to the man, Brent! Let Dino feel your hate!  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 08:59:56 AM] **blambert04**: hate is a waste of energy  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:00:12 AM] **blambert04**: i'm on issue 10 of X-Force. i haven't moved that fast on a title in forever  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:00:20 AM] **X C33d**: Least kill Scott Redmond on your way out, yeesh  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:00:30 AM] **X C33d**: Youy do have help ;)  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:00:49 AM] **blambert04**: Scott is a nice guy  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:01:02 AM] **X C33d**: Lousy writer though  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:01:20 AM] **X C33d**: I have no mercy for those who write my faves poorly  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:01:21 AM] **blambert04**: i see room for improvement  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:01:31 AM] **X C33d**: Just a rusty spoon  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:01:41 AM] **blambert04**: lol you and your double standards  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:01:49 AM] **X C33d**: Well, yeah. When you suck, there's always room for improvement ;)  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:02:05 AM] **blambert04**: i don't have a problem with him  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:02:12 AM] **X C33d**: What? Touch something I like, you gotta do it right  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:02:28 AM] **X C33d**: How's that a double standard?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:02:54 AM] **blambert04**: because you can trip out on folks just for writing ability. but i trip on them cuz they're assholes i'm supposed to suck it up  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:03:38 AM] **blambert04**: and i think a person's character far outweighs writing talent  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:03:45 AM] **X C33d**: Well, yeah. You're writing titles I like ;)  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:04:42 AM] **blambert04**: i'l just take the compliment there lol  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:04:47 AM] **X C33d**: Heh  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:05:08 AM] **X C33d**: Yeah, the implications of my statements are, usually, rather unpleasant(skull)  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:05:24 AM] **X C33d**: How's X-Force 8, btw?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:06:05 AM] **blambert04**: its done. i'm on 10  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:06:18 AM] **X C33d**: Gimmie!  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:06:17 AM] **blambert04**: still need to wrap up seven though  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:06:21 AM] **blambert04**: which won't be hard  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:06:32 AM] **X C33d**: Again, gimmie I say  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:06:46 AM] **X C33d**: Don't make me come over there!  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:06:47 AM] **blambert04**: seven ain't done lol  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:06:56 AM] **X C33d**: 8 is a new arc  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:07:00 AM] **blambert04**: yea it is  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:07:10 AM] **X C33d**: Reading in order is for wussies  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:07:12 AM] **blambert04**: lol  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:08:10 AM] **X C33d**: Jon Wick, meh horror writer  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:09:26 AM] **X C33d**: .  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:09:38 AM] **X C33d**: Huh? Aren't those like, half your X-Corps team?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:09:52 AM] **blambert04**: yea its the wrong link  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:10:07 AM] **blambert04**: that's not the updated roster  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:10:10 AM] **X C33d**: Ah, okay  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:10:24 AM] **X C33d**: About to say, super lameness  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:10:55 AM] **X C33d**: Not just regular. Super!  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:11:01 AM] **blambert04**: issues sent  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:11:32 AM] **X C33d**: Whoo!  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:12:01 AM] **X C33d**: Think Kamau vs. a sumo is a neat idea?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:12:11 AM] **X C33d**: super sumo, mind  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:12:23 AM] **blambert04**: why not lol. i say go for it  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:13:53 AM] **X C33d**: I'm gonna stack the deck in Kamau's favor for best fight, next tookies  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:14:37 AM] **blambert04**: good luck there  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:15:11 AM] **X C33d**: Tiger Shark, a sumo, good odds  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:17:56 AM] **X C33d**: Shame Golightly killed Black Dragon, he mighta been cool too  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:18:28 AM] **blambert04**: yea  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:24:31 AM] **blambert04**: you got Omega Red right?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:24:57 AM] **X C33d**: Yup  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:25:15 AM] **X C33d**: He, Titanium Man and The Russian are gonna fight Excal  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:26:20 AM] **blambert04**: next arc?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:26:43 AM] **X C33d**: The arc after next, actually  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:27:24 AM] **blambert04**: oh ok  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:35:01 AM] **X C33d**: I figure Russians play a little harder than most  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:36:17 AM] **blambert04**: true  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:45:34 AM] **X C33d**: Plus, KGBastard's back is to the wall. Not a time to pull your punches  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:50:01 AM] **blambert04**: yea. just like a cat lol  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:50:19 AM] **X C33d**: Hell, any animal or human threatened  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:55:04 AM] **X C33d**: Though Commando and Guishen will need some action  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:56:56 AM] **X C33d**: M2K needs a black ops team, sigh...  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:57:06 AM] **blambert04**: soldier x hahaha  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:58:01 AM] **X C33d**: ...  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 09:58:26 AM] **X C33d**: With three words, you have come within inches of signing your death warrent  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:00:55 AM] **blambert04**: lol  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:01:00 AM] **blambert04**: you know u love them  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:01:04 AM] **X C33d**: So should I help you write X-Force like Soldier X then?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:02:14 AM] **blambert04**: lol. i was thinking of throwing a bunch of teens together  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:02:24 AM] **blambert04**: and forget NSA. dept or agriculture  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:05:51 AM] **X C33d**: Need to smack Dave for letting him back  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:06:15 AM] **blambert04**: he's your leader  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:06:45 AM] **X C33d**: No one's perfect  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:07:50 AM] **blambert04**: especially him  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:08:22 AM] **X C33d**: Aww, you're so cute when you're holding a grudge ;)  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:09:20 AM] **blambert04**: and i'm already cute on a regular basis anyway so i need more grudges  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:09:50 AM] **blambert04**: people like dave make it easy  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:09:53 AM] **X C33d**: That's not what she said!  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:09:57 AM] **X C33d**: *snap*  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:09:59 AM] **blambert04**: me and davids. we never seem to click  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:10:14 AM] **X C33d**: They had been taken from various places and under various circumstances. Some came from parents wanting to rid themselves of an economic burden. Others were scarred veterans of wars fought by children.  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:10:22 AM] **X C33d**: I'd combine that just a little  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:10:53 AM] **X C33d**: They had been taken from various places and under various circumstances. Some came from parents wanting to rid themselves of an economic burden, while others were scarred veterans of wars fought by children.  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:11:28 AM] **X C33d**: Girls instead of females. Females is too sciency  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:12:01 AM] **X C33d**: Most of the children came off of the streets where no one would notice that they were gone.  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:12:13 AM] **X C33d**: Needs a little tweak  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:12:38 AM] **X C33d**: But most of the children came off of the streets, where no one would even notice or care that they were gone.  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:13:11 AM] **X C33d**: With me so far?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:14:15 AM] **blambert04**: yep  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:15:07 AM] **X C33d**: k  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:15:51 AM] **X C33d**: Screams were a thing to be avoided in this county. They weren't investigated.  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:16:13 AM] **X C33d**: Tweaked, like say Screams were a thing to be avoided in this county, not investigated  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:16:45 AM] **blambert04**: ok  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:16:52 AM] **X C33d**: Sounds kinda lame, but periods and commas do control the mood and flow  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:17:14 AM] **X C33d**: So if two sentences are meant to compliment one another, they ought to be together  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:17:26 AM] **X C33d**: IMO, anyways. I'm speaking from raw experience  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:18:35 AM] **X C33d**: These children had one common thread that bound them together that caused them to fall under the gaze of The Genegineer  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:18:38 AM] **blambert04**: naw that's cool. that sentence has more of a horror feel to it  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:18:43 AM] **X C33d**: Too clunky  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:19:14 AM] **X C33d**: These children had one common thread that bound them together, that brought them to the attention of the Geneguy  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:20:01 AM] **blambert04**: ok  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:20:12 AM] **X C33d**: Need a comma after Mother Nature  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:20:38 AM] **X C33d**: Commas are your friends. Can you imagine how they mighta spared David W's run on sentences? ;)  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:21:07 AM] **blambert04**: lol  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:21:39 AM] **X C33d**: All of his subjects were blood, muscles, and DNA.  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:21:41 AM] **X C33d**: Too dry  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:22:07 AM] **X C33d**: To him, all of his subjects were nothing more than collections of blood, muscles, and DNA.  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:22:14 AM] **X C33d**: Just like my enemies!  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:22:52 AM] **X C33d**: It was an unquantifiable thing and that made it utterly useless in The Genegineer's world view.  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:23:05 AM] **X C33d**: Again, little dry  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:23:37 AM] **X C33d**: It was an unquantifiable thing and thus was utterly useless in The Genegineer's world view/opinion/designs/plans.  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:24:08 AM] **X C33d**: 22 pages?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:25:48 AM] **blambert04**: triple-sized remember?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:26:44 AM] **X C33d**: Thought I'd finally lured you to the darkside. Ah nuts  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:28:08 AM] **blambert04**: naw. my future issues remain shorter lol  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:28:15 AM] **X C33d**: I'd go into his mood. Damn it, meebo!  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:30:03 AM] **blambert04**: ok  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:31:06 AM] **X C33d**: Whoo, M bitch slap!  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:33:37 AM] **X C33d**: With the Blind Faith discussion, he ought to view Selene as an asset just against Dark Beast  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:33:47 AM] **X C33d**: You state it kinda muddled, is all  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:34:06 AM] **X C33d**: And from what Nils seems to suggest, Selene may be a potential ally in the future.  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:34:33 AM] **blambert04**: oh ok  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:34:37 AM] **X C33d**: And from what Nils seems to suggest, Selene may be a potential asset in dealing with him  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:35:14 AM] **X C33d**: Minor thing, but I just don't think the heads ought to be talking about Selene with any naivity ;)  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:36:04 AM] **X C33d**: And a little more emphasize on why Adel has to go down is needed. This is comics, drama it up a bit ;)  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:36:30 AM] **blambert04**: well i don't see it as comics lol. i see it as prose using characters from comic books. but i gotcha  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:37:09 AM] **X C33d**: Well, true. We lack visuals. But we gotta make up for it in tension and character insight  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:38:33 AM] **blambert04**: re-reading it. not sure how Havok was being naive about Selene. he calls her a madwoman  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:39:35 AM] **X C33d**: No, Blind Faith  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:39:59 AM] **X C33d**: He says she might be an ally. You narrowed it down a little  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:40:15 AM] **X C33d**: But you need to make it clear she'd only be useful against Dark Beast  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:40:42 AM] **X C33d**: Which, come to think of it, would make it a real surprise when she comes down on Weapon X ;)  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:40:50 AM] **blambert04**: yea.  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:42:00 AM] **X C33d**: Stay on Muir Island. Isn't the place blown up?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:42:46 AM] **blambert04**: not yet  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:43:19 AM] **X C33d**: Well, have Frost say it should stay secured with X-Force or at the mansion  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:43:26 AM] **blambert04**: Weapon X is going to send it sky high  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:43:32 AM] **X C33d**: Lotta smoothie drinkers, btw ;)  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:43:55 AM] **blambert04**: M and Emma  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:44:00 AM] **blambert04**: student and teacher  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:44:02 AM] **blambert04**: kinda makes sense  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:44:24 AM] **X C33d**: Whoo, smart Star!  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:45:17 AM] **X C33d**: Emma said as she violently ended the conference.  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:45:44 AM] **X C33d**: I'd go with 'slammed her fist down on the button' or somethin'. Ended violently is too open ended  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:45:53 AM] **blambert04**: ok  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:46:30 AM] **X C33d**: Blind Faith a regular member?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:46:46 AM] **blambert04**: yea  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:47:45 AM] **X C33d**: Why do they need the neogenic?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:48:39 AM] **blambert04**: Havok's cut a deal with Sledge no one else knows about except Blind Faith  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:48:45 AM] **blambert04**: that comes in the next arc  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:49:25 AM] **X C33d**: I sees  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:50:56 AM] **blambert04**: yea there are alot of deals and double deals going on  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:51:07 AM] **X C33d**: Madrox had to stretch himself thin across the X-Teams. Though it made sense for a guy like him to be the common glue.  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:51:12 AM] **X C33d**: Seems kinda random  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:52:06 AM] **blambert04**: meant to say something about his personality there. i'll change it  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 10:57:40 AM] **X C33d**: M needs to say just a little more before BF backs her up  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 11:00:08 AM] **blambert04**: ok  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 11:00:16 AM] **X C33d**: The lesson to be learned here: Don't store large quantities of experimental, moisture-activated, emergency-resuscitation nanobots in cities on floodplains.  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 11:01:13 AM] **X C33d**: Words to live by  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 11:03:33 AM] **blambert04**: where's that from?  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 11:03:57 AM] **X C33d**: .  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 11:07:37 AM] **X C33d**: It's one of the few comics that are funnier when jokes are explained  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 11:08:12 AM] **blambert04**: a rare gem then  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 11:10:58 AM] **X C33d**: One civilized and one savage killer.  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 11:11:55 AM] **X C33d**: One civilized, cultured, a true intellect while the other was an amoral, savage thrill killer.  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 11:13:58 AM] **X C33d**: .  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 11:16:31 AM] **X C33d**: .  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 11:16:40 AM] **X C33d**: Note: The rotating barrel assembly on the Strohl Munitions Short-barrel handcannon may give the user a wicked pinch if the weapon is held incorrectly. This makes it an unpopular selection for many military forces. Also, it can be configured to send anywhere between five hundred and five thousand projectiles per minute downrange with great accuracy, making it an exceedingly unpopular selection for the enemies of many military forces.  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 11:18:29 AM] **X C33d**: Too lazy to review the rest. I'll get at that laters  
[Fri Apr 24 2009 11:19:25 AM] **blambert04**: aight lol


	9. Chapter 9

**X-FORCE #9**

**The Pirate Crew Pt. 2**

_Previously: Based on information from Mikhail Rasputin, the team travels to Somalia to track down someone calling himself The Genegineer. Once in Mogadishu, the team splits into two groups trying to tackle different locations in the hopes of discerning some information about this new Genegineer's location. Meanwhile they're being stalked by Ahab and his Hounds who intend to remove Havok from the map._

Havok knew that M's worldview had a way of rubbing people the wrong way, but he wouldn't want anyone else at his side. In terms of sheer power, she was the most powerful member of X-Force. In every physical aspect, she was superhuman perfection, whether it was strength or a genius level brilliance, to say nothing of her telepathy and flight. She was his team's powerhouse and made for good back-up.

While he had directed Blind Faith and his team to a local bar, Alex was taking his team to a fortified hideout of a minor warlord within the city. Yugi Wvarista had turned a blown out school into his new base of operations. Havok knew he wouldn't see any clearer symbol of the opportunities lost in Africa.

Havok's team was crouched in a dugout across the street from the pot marked and missile burned school. Alex turned to M who was next to him and asked, "How many are in there?"

"Twenty-five little worms. Their weapons are as ancient as their hair is nappy."

Abyss groaned. "Could you at least attempt to be anything but offensive?"

M cut her eyes at the Genoshan like he had suggested she shave her head bald. "Mind your business mutate! We have enough problems without some field worker trying to lead us."

Nils had stopped listening after the word mutate. "I'll show you mutate you punk—

Shatterstar held up a hand for silence. "This is not helping and puts us at risk. Save your argument until we get back to Muir Island."

"What he said," Havok grimaced. "Do either one of you have a problem with that?"

M smiled like a child who had just got away with stealing cookies. "Works for me."

Abyss begrudgingly said, "Yea me too."

"So how many men do we have running the perimeter? And how many entrance guards?" Havok asked M.

Monet closed her eyes and sought out the information he requested. She rapidly dug through each mind in the building like a sharp knife through someone's back. Opening her eyes after a few moments, she said, "Four guards are on perimeter patrol. Three guarding the entrance."

"Telepathically neutralize the perimeter guards. I'll announce our arrival properly," Havok said as cosmic energy began to wave around his fingertips. "Then we'll find Wvarista and see what answers he can give us."

Havok had full confidence in M's telepathic abilities. She had been a pupil of Emma Frost, who was in the upper echelon of telepaths in the world. There were only a few who were above her in power and not many above her in skill. It was a boon to now have her with the X-men despite Havok's problems with her leadership ability.

M closed her eyes again and four distinct thumps were heard by her enhanced hearing. She smiled and said, "They're taken care of!"

Havok jumped up from the dugout and extended his hand. "Then get ready to move!"

A stream of golden cosmic energy flowed out from his wrist, across his hand, and ripped violently into the doors of the former school. The explosion resounded throughout the entire block and Havok knew that it would attract a lot of attention. Precisely what he was hoping for.

"Move people!" Havok said as he ran across the street. Shatterstar, M, and Abyss all sped by him despite his giving the order.

Before he entered into the building he already heard gunfire and screams. Powering up both arms, he walked into the midst of the chaos. Shatterstar had already removed the limbs of two men and broken the neck of a third. M had flung two gunmen through three walls and into the other side of the building. Abyss was having the most success with the gunmen, having unwrapped himself into hundreds of tendrils that were wrapped around ten of the men.

Powering down, Havok said, "Good work. You guys sure made that quick."

Shatterstar stuck a sword into the shoulder of one of his felled foes and bent down to face the man. He probably wasn't a day over twenty. "Where is Wvarista?"

"Down stairs to the right," M said as she tapped her forehead. "Surface thoughts are too easy to pick up."

"Then that's where we're headed," Havok said. "M, I need you to do something else."

"Of course you do. Perfection is always hard at work," M said with a wink.

"Make all of these men think a rival faction attacked them. No need to draw unnecessary attention to ourselves."

M shrugged. "It'll take a bit of time, but I'll get it done."

Havok nodded. "Good. Meet up with us as soon as you do. And if anyone else arrives before then make them think SHIELD is barreling down on this location."

"Doesn't that defeat the purpose of making a ruckus in the first place?" Abyss said as he pulled himself back together.

"Attracting everyone over here was to make sure that we create a very nasty rumor. I don't want it going around that a bunch of mutants were hitting warlords. I much rather it be thought to be a legit organization."

Shatterstar sheathed his swords and said, "Perhaps it would be prudent if we walked and talked."

Havok nodded. "Agreed. M meet up with us when you can."

**=X=**

Marrow slung her bone daggers into the two front wheels of the approaching humvee. They exploded air violently from the ripping of rubber and sent the car rolling over. The Morlock was not the least bit shaken by the rapid release of air pressure and found it actually pumped her up. There had been a mutant she once faced on The Hill whose mutant power allowed him to throw purple globs of pus that erupted with devastating impact. She spent an hour digging through his body to find the source of it.

The men that had been driving the vehicle her bone daggers struck were now out of the fight, but there were five more humvees coming and they were raining down bullets from mounted guns. Marrow moved through the hail like it was snowflakes that could do her no harm. Colossus had once told her that she was like the winter. Beautiful and deadly all at once. He had meant it as a compliment at the time and Marrow accepted it because few had ever called her beautiful. Now though she intended to show the second side of that assessment. Running towards her attackers, she pulled a dagger from her rib cage and flung it into the chest of one of the drivers.

As the car began to skirt back and forth, Marrow leaped forward and ran over the hood of the car. She pulled the dagger from the man's chest and flung it to her side striking another driver in the temple. Swiftly, she snatched the dead man in front of her by the shirt and threw him into another humvee. She watched with sick delight as the body crunched into the vehicle and flew over the lap of the driver.

She flipped off the out of control vehicle and watched it crash into a burnt out pawn shop. Fire erupted from the collision and The Morlock watched the vehicle's other passengers struggle to get out of the humvee. They were struggling to crawl out of the rubble as their flesh was blistered and cracked from the fire. Marrow intended to take no prisoners today. The Hill had never allowed such mercy to her and she had no intention of extending it to upworlders.

Running forward, Marrow pulled out a bone dagger from each side of her ribs and leaped into the mix of rubble and vehicle that the men were trying to escape from. With her first leap, she thrust her two bone daggers into the back of two men's heads. The bones ripped through the flesh and out through their neck. She yanked back on her weapons and pulled them from the men covered with blood and entrails. There was one man left and he looked up pleadingly at Marrow even as he was burning.

She lifted both of her bone daggers into the air and prepared herself to deliver the killing blow when she heard, "That's enough!"

Turning around, Marrow saw Blind Faith looking not in the least bit happy. Marrow stared the priest down and licked one of her blood covered bone daggers. She stepped down from the pile of rubble and said, "You are what you eat."

Blind Faith tried to hide his disgust. "That was beyond excessive Marrow. We're here on a mission. Not to massacre."

"They attacked me. I simply responded."

Seven bloodied and shot up Madrox dupes merged with a healthy main Madrox that had remained behind in the bar. The recombined Madrox walked up behind Blind Faith and said, "I doubt Havok wanted us to make this look like a scene from a horror movie."

Pipeline saw no point in the bashing of Marrow. "What information were you able to find Blind Faith?"

"Apparently, our target's base is slightly outside of the city. He doesn't have anything resembling security so we won't have to worry about a repeat of the last ten minutes," Blind Faith said.

Licking her other bone dagger, Marrow wiped her lips with the back of her hand after she was done. "A repeat might be fun."

Madrox cringed. "Man that can't be healthy!"

"We need to rendezvous back with Havok ASAP," Pipeline said not wanting the conversation to veer back to Marrow.

Alexi saw what Cormick was up to, but he had to go along with it. As much as he himself wanted to address it, Marrow's bloodlust was really a smaller issue in the larger scheme of things. They needed to find The Genegineer, especially before someone could potentially alert him to their presence in the country. "Reaching Havok and his team is priority one, but be prepared for taking the fight to Genegineer on our own if circumstances force us to."

"I'm always ready," Marrow said.

Blind Faith was less than receptive. "I'm sure."

**=X=**

Monet felt the minds of the various soldiers surrounding the school turned fortress. Their technology did not yet include telepath blockers so their minds were easily manipulated by M. She had all of them believing that the building was held up with fully armed SHIELD agents. It would buy Havok the time he needed to interrogate Wvarista and keep their involvement from being known.

Keeping the minds of the men in check was not a difficult task at all, but she was beginning to find their surface thoughts annoying. There was so much fear in all of them that it was nauseating. She hated cowardly men with a passion. Her brother was a coward. Marius was unable to accept her truthful criticism and locked her away in the form of Penance. She was like a long stalk of sugar cane he took his time drinking from.

The men surrounding the school reminded her of Marius, but their fear was useful at least. It made their minds that much easier to manipulate and plant suggestions in. She had placed in all of them a deep fear of even entering the building. They were frightened at the idea of even firing on the building. In some mock show of manhood, they were going to surround the building until the SHIELD agents made their presence known.

Confident that her work was done, Monet threw her hair to the wind and walked to the staircase that Havok had taken to Wvarista. Before she reached the stairway, the roof above her gave out in a deafening crash. M leaped back from the destruction and covered her eyes to keep debris from getting in it. Wood splinters, insulation, and a bit of asbestos were all in the plume that swept over Monet as she was knocked to her back.

She felt the three minds that fell from the roof and didn't at all like the fact that she hadn't sensed them before. Standing to her feet, M dusted her shoulders off and lamented how awful her hair probably looked. If she was going to have to get dirty then she had every intention of having her fists being involved in the action.

"She's kinda cute," a man said as he stepped through the dust. He had red bionic eyes that zipped back and forth. His skin was a soft brown and he had two black braids that descended down to his back. White circuitry crawled up and down his arms and bare chest. In both of his hands, he was twirling machetes.

M knew that she had no time to waste and the numbers were against her. She flew forward with super speed and sent her knee into her admirer's stomach with all the force she could muster. Bones crunched and wires sparked as the full force of the blow was felt. The man was sent tumbling back throwing his shoulder out of place and sending him through the door that led to the stairwell.

Immediately, she spun a hard fist to her right and knocked a mustard-skinned man right in his jaw. She pulled back her wrist and saw there were cuts on her hand, but she didn't have time to worry about that. M was enhanced in every human physical characteristic and healing fell under that. The wounds would be gone shortly.

Hoping to end this fight before it even started, M threw another punch to the left, but she wouldn't have such luck. Her hand was caught in a massive palm and he squeezed. Monet wasn't able to pull away from the grip, but she smiled anyway. "Oh you're such a big strong man. I should just let you take me now!"

The African man squeezed harder. "That might be an acceptable option."

M swung her other fist and struck the man in the golden orb that was at the center of his blue and black armor. He didn't even budge. She jumped up and kicked the man directly in his face. His head snapped back and he flung M into the nearest wall. She hit hard enough to be sent flying right through the concrete and plaster to where her mentally manipulated Somali soldiers were.

"She doesn't look SHIELD."

"Not even close."

M stood to her feet and reached out with her telepathy. It was hard to concentrate fully with her head spinning, but she was able to make them see her garbed in a SHIELD uniform. Taking an assertive posture, she said, "SHIELD is here to apprehend Yugi Wvarista and his associates only. Leave now and you won't be included in the arrest."

A hover cycle that looked like a horse pushed its way through the armed men and the man seated on it pointed a harpoon at M. "She's a mutant fellas. Playing tricks with your mind. SHIELD isn't here and she's all alone."

The man that M had initially attacked was now at the gashing hole her body had created. "Doesn't mean she can't give a good lick."

All eyes were now on M and she clenched her fists together. Bullets had never really given her invulnerability a problem before, but she wasn't ready to see how many she could handle.

Havok, I strongly suggest you hurry up with your interrogation. We have bigger problems waiting for us out here!

**=X=**

His office had been mostly without any sort of activity all day and he had cleared his schedule to make sure he would be able to sit by the phone. This was going to be his opening gambit and he couldn't afford to be vagabonding through Hong Kong when the call came in. It was too important to make sure things got off to the start he was looking for.

Finally, after hours of sitting alone in darkness the phone rang. Immediately it was picked up and the man asked, "Have they encountered X-Force."

The voice on the other end was raspy and muddled by a breathing apparatus. "They have. Ironically, it would seem they have picked Monet to stalk first."

"As well they should. She is perhaps the most dangerous of their number, but good. I hope Ahab lives up to his name."

"I will report more as soon I hear anything."

He let the conversation end at that and he hung up the phone. Leaning back in his chair, he smiled. Events were beginning to converge precisely as he needed them to.

**Next Issue: X-Force is reunited, but how long will they last in the face of Ahab and his crew?**


	10. Chapter 10

X-FORCE #10

**The Pirate Crew Pt. 3**

**Previously: Marrow cut loose in a battle with Somali rebels and earned the ire of ****Blind Faith****. ****Havok**** and his team attacked a school turned into the HQ for a warlord. M runs telepathic interference, but is attacked by three members of Ahab's crew. And now she finds herself face to face with the captain himself….**

"So it seems pretty lady that we have ourselves a bit of a problem," Ahab smiled from atop his hover cycle. "You're surrounded and vastly outnumbered. These men will blow you to pieces if I say so."

M returned the smile. It was as slick and cool as Ahab's had been. She pointed at Ahab and said, "Shoot her down now!"

The angry rebels leveled their weapons at Ahab and began to fire an erroneous cacophony of bullets at him. He bobbed and weaved through the hail managing to break around the corner of a pot marked building. Raising their weapons into the air and shouting threats of violence, the Somali rebels took off after Ahab.

Sometimes being a telepath has its benefits, M thought to herself as she turned to walk back to the school.

Before she could even turn her body fully, a large black fist struck her across the face and sent her crashing into a burnt out car and becoming enwrapped in it. Daggoo rubbed his knuckles with his other hand and said, "That was a dirty trick you played on the captain!"

Queequeg and Fedallah jumped out of the hole that M's body had previously created and they applauded their crewmate for a well-executed attack. Somehow managing to breathe despite his broken ribs, Queequeg said, "I doubt she's getting up from that one."

"Good. Now we need to go and help the captain," Fedallah said. "Those stupid Africans are going to eat him alive!"

Daggoo cut his eyes at the mustard-skinned Hound. "I'm African."

"You know what I mean! Let's just go!"

"Why leave so soon? We thought the party was just getting started," Havok said as he jumped out of the hole in the school with Shatterstar and two dozen Madrox dupes flanking him. They were all carrying Uzis in both of their hands. "Or did our invitations just have the wrong time Daggoo?"

Daggoo flashed eyes of hate at Havok. "How did you know my name?"

Cosmic energy began to surround Havok's fists. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Madrox!"

The dupes stepped forward and fired their weapons in the direction of the three men. Bullets roared through the air and streaked towards the Hounds. Havok wasn't too fond of the use of automatic weapons, but he would use whatever he had to if it meant getting the job done. This wasn't his brother's X-Men and sometimes accomplishing peaceful ends meant using violent means.

Stretching out his long spindly fingers, Fedallah's black fingernails turned white and he waved his hands in the air in one smooth motion. A sparkling force field surrounded the three men and the bullets of the dupes bounced off harmlessly. The Hound stuck out a long blue tongue and began to bounce back and forth like a child. "You gonna have to do better than that!"

Alex intended to oblige the request. He thrust both of his fists in front of him and two streams of glowing gold radiation rushed forward to slam into the Hound's force field. Summers power triumphed again because the force field was completely shattered and two powerful blasts hit Fedallah square in the chest. The Hound was flung back and flew over the car that M had been shunted into. He hit the ground with a thud and was out cold.

Daggoo and Queequeg had dodged the attack and were quickly moving to take out Havok. He was the man that their captain had called the hunt on and if he was removed from the picture then they could get out of Somali in one piece. Twirling both of his machetes, Queequeg reared one arm back and flung his weapon towards Havok.

Shatterstar ran forward and jumped in the path of the spinning weapon. He caught it mid-air and slung it into the dirt. Unsheathing one of his swords, Shatterstar said, "I'll only use one to be fair."

Queequeg came to a halt and gritted his teeth at Shatterstar's insult. "You'd be better off using both of your poking sticks. You're gonna need them."

**=X=**

Daggoo was still moving full speed at Havok. Alex was firing cosmic discharge after cosmic discharge at the Hound, but Daggoo was too fast. He was dodging all of them. In a moment he would be atop Havok and Alex knew he was done in close combat. Daggoo's bio-cybernetic suit made him incredibly strong and those blades protruding from his elbow would turn Alex into people sushi.

Havok took the only option available to him and began to run as fast he could from Daggoo. He would wait until The Hound got close enough and let off a full body blast. Alex knew that those could be dangerous and he still didn't have full control of them. A whole city block could be consumed if he wasn't careful, but it was either that or be skewered.

Figuring that Daggoo would be upon him any second, Havok turned and saw…nothing. Daggoo was on the ground and if Alex had to guess, Marrow was on top of The Hound.

"Didn't know you could book it like that Alex," Pipeline teased as he ran to Havok's side with a laser rifle holstered over his shoulder. Behind him was Blind Faith.

"How did Madrox manage to beat you guys here?" Havok asked. His voice had more anger in it than he wanted to portray, but he had nearly been a piece of meat on a cutting board. That wouldn't exactly lift someone's spirits.

Pipeline detected how his leader was feeling. He had spent enough time with Alex in Genosha to know when he was ticked. "I sent Madrox ahead of the rest of us. Alexi still had a few people he needed to try and pull some information from."

Trying to catch his breath, Havok said, "First, Madrox shouldn't have gone alone. Second, I hope you found out something worthwhile. Wvarista was a bust."

"We have the Genegineer's exact location," Blind Faith said. "And quite a few details about his operation."

"Good, once we get past—

"Get down!" Pipeline yelled as he shoved Havok to the dirt. Their bodies hit hard as Marrow flew over them.

The Morlock slammed into the school wall and bounced off of it after a bone-crushing crunch. After getting back to his feet, Havok immediately rushed over to Marrow and scooped her up in his arms. "Talk to me Marrow!"

Spitting up blood, Marrow said, "Don't yell…upworlder."

Havok looked up from Marrow and saw Daggoo charging again. This time, things would be different. "Blind Faith! Subdue him!"

Alexi zeroed his vision in on Daggoo and began to emit hypnotic waves from his eyes. Daggoo's charge wasn't being halted by the telepathic assault. Grimly, Alexi turned back to Havok and said, "He's resistant to telepathy!"

"Figures!" Pipeline said as he jumped in front of the Russian and fired off his laser rifle. With military precision, the blast struck Daggoo in the face and flipped him on his stomach.

"Good job Pipeline," Havok said with Marrow still in his arms. "We may need an extraction immediately."

"What about Genegineer?" Cormic asked.

"I refuse to put Marrow's life at risk."

Marrow pushed away from Havok and stood to her feet even though it was obvious she was in pain. "Only a few broken bones. They'll repair themselves. Spine already has."

By this time, Daggoo was already back on his feet and closer than ever to the mutants. His face was heavily burnt from Pipeline's laser fire, but it was quickly fixing itself. The flesh was knitting itself back together and growing new skin to replace what was burned beyond repair. Daggoo wasn't waiting until he was fully renewed. Only a few yards away from the mutants, Daggoo charged forward.

Pipeline shot off another blast that Daggoo dodged this time and it was too late to stop him. He uppercut Havok and knocked X-Force's leader into the air. Daggoo tried to slash Blind Faith across the chest with his elbow blade, but Pipeline pulled the priest back in time. Falling on top of Pipeline, Blind Faith said, "Thank you."

"Thank me by getting off," Pipeline replied.

Ignoring her own pain, Marrow jabbed a bone dagger into Daggoo's armpit and kicked him in the back of his knee. The Hound fell to his knees and cried out in pain. He had about enough of the pink skinned woman and her bones. Reaching around with the arm that didn't have a weapon jabbed into it, Daggoo began to choke The Morlock.

"You are a tiresome little rat!" Daggoo said as he began to squeeze.

"Oh you don't know the half of it!" M said to Daggoo's shock. In Monet's hands was the very same car that he had punched her into.

He didn't have any time to respond before M slammed the vehicle into him and sent him blowing straight into the school. The building buckled from the impact. It probably couldn't take too many more impacts like that. Dusting her hands off, M landed next to Marrow and asked, "Are you okay?"

Marrow snarled at Monet. "Rats get by just fine."

"Good," M said as she looked around her and noticed that two people were missing. "Where's Madrox and Abyss?"

"You're the TP. You should know," Marrow said as she stood to her feet a little easier than she had before.

M sucked her teeth and closed her eyes as she reached out to find Jamie's mind. "Oh no. They've gone after that creep alone."

**=X=**

Shatterstar blocked Queequeg's first attack and kicked the feet out from under The Hound. Queequeg hit the ground hard and kicked up dirt as he did so. Shatterstar sent his sword in a downward thrust to be quickly blocked by Queequeg's machete. The two's muscles bulged as they tried to make the other yield. At that moment Queequeg felt fortunate that he had been cybernetically enhanced to have greater than average strength. Finally, Queequeg rolled out of the way and Shatterstar's sword cut into the ground.

Queequeg rolled to where his other machete was and as he stood to his feet he grabbed his other weapon. Sweat shimmered off of his chest and rolled down his flesh and over the white circuitry that covered his upper body. "Now this should be an interesting!"

Pulling out his other sword, Shatterstar smiled. "Indeed it should be."

Crouching low to the ground, Queequeg ran forward and tried to take out Shatterstar by the knees. His attack was unsuccessful as Shatterstar jumped into the air and planted his feet on The Hound's shoulders. Queequeg's body was thrust forward as Shatterstar flipped off of him. His face crashed into the ground and he dropped both of his machetes.

Shatterstar landed on his feet perfectly and ran back to Queequeg. He lifted both of his swords into the air and was about to remove both of The Hound's arms when an electric arc burst up from Queequeg's circuitry and struck Shatterstar head on. His hair stood on end and he cried out in pain as he collapsed to the ground. He was unable to let go of his swords, which made the electrical attack all the worse.

"You won't find me such easy prey," Queequeg said as he grabbed his machetes and stood to his feet.

Smoke emanated from Shatterstar's still form. The smell of burnt hair and flesh was heavy in the air. Queequeg gave no words as he reared one of his arms back for a quick thrust to the neck. It would end the fight and allow his opponent to die quickly. As his machete moved in for the kill, The Hound felt an acute pain in his chest. Looking down, he saw that Shatterstar's sword had stabbed him through his left pectoral and pierced his lung.

"Likewise," Shatterstar said as he gave his sword a quick twist.

"Stop playing already," M said as she floated down behind Queequeg and struck him across the back of his head knocking him out. She pulled his body off of Shatterstar's sword and tossed him to the side. "We need to get to Abyss and Madrox."

"Why?" Shatterstar asked as he got to his feet.

"Because they've decided to try and take on Ahab by themselves," Havok said as he approached with the rest of X-Force behind him. "And they really have no idea what they're walking into.

"Who is this Ahab?" Shatterstar asked.

"He's a mutant hunter from the future. The man was quite successful at his job."

Shatterstar knew what wasn't being said. "So which way?"

Havok looked to M and she said, "Around the block. We need to hurry."

**=X=**

"Move out the way boys! The real men are here!" Abyss said as his tendrils wrapped around man after man and flung to the side like rag dolls. He saw the person who had tried to entrap M cutting through the Somali rebels like they were nothing.

At least fifty Madrox dupes were mixed in with the rebels taking them out one by one. If a dupe was taken down, two more popped up to replace him. Nils felt completely confident with the numbers that Madrox provided. Still, he couldn't help but to be a little nervous when he saw Ahab for the first time. He had a harpoon in one hand and a handgun in the other.

Men were having their guts delivered right into their hands and their arms reduced to ash by Ahab's weaponry. Honestly, Abyss wasn't really even sure if he could call them men. Some of them looked like they couldn't be a day over seventeen so while he didn't agree with their actions they still didn't need to be cut down like sheep.

"All of you! Get out of here!" Abyss said as he began to use his tendrils to move the rebels out of harm's way and landed right in front of Ahab. He opened up his chest and let the gravitational pull of his proverbial black hole begin to pull the mutant hunter in.

Ahab threw his harpoon into the concrete and used it as an anchor to keep from getting pulled in. "Mutant, I have dealt with far worse weather!"

Clicking a button on the back of his handgun, Ahab fired the weapon at one of Abyss' tendrils. The pink discharge spread like a lightning bolt across the Genoshan's body and made him collapse to the ground unconscious. His body instinctively pulled itself back together and left him a prime target for Ahab's harpoon. Pulling it out of the ground, Ahab made a move to chunk right into Abyss' heart.

"Not a chance old man!" a Madrox dupe said as he picked up a baseball bat one of the rebels was carrying and struck Ahab across the face with it.

The bat broke across Ahab's face and the mutant hunter wasn't the least affected by the attack. He immediately struck the dupe across the head with his harpoon and knocked him to the ground. Ahab wasted no time stabbing the dupe right in the gut and twisting the weapon in his flesh even as he screamed. That sound gave Ahab the satisfaction of a job well done. All mutants needed to scream in such a manner. If they refused to be controlled then they needed to be killed.

He had been enjoying his hunt a bit too much for his own good because he never saw the beam of cosmic power that Havok had leveled at him. It him dead on and sent him flying right down the large alley and into a large dumpster.

Havok walked over to the suffering dupe and said, "Don't worry pal. You'll be back one day."

With that, he burned the dupe's head to crisp with his radiation and turned his attention back to Ahab. "Team we're going to go about this the right way!"

Unable to resist asking, M said, "Which is?"

"We're going to make Ahab a smear on the sidewalk."

**Next Issue: X-Force vs. Ahab! And what about the rest of his crew? Is that Genegineer getting away…**


	11. Chapter 11

**X-FORCE #11**

The Pirate Crew Pt. 4

_Previously: Havok and gang engaged three members of Ahab's crew in battle and managed to survive the experience. But now they're looking to take on the man himself and Havok has no intention of letting him walk away from the fight alive._

The Madrox dupes were in shock at what Havok had just done. He killed one of them. It may have been out of mercy because the guy did have a harpoon in his guts, but Alex did the deed so coldly. The old Alex they knew back in their X-Factor days would have thought twice before committing such an act. Now he just did it like it was taking out the laundry. The worst part of it was that no one else seemed to be bothered by the fact Havok just murdered a dupe. All of them were focused on Ahab.

Standing straight up and down, Ahab had his harpoon by his side. The tip of it was covered in the blood of the slain dupe. He stared down the members of X-Force with such intensity it was almost enough to make them look away. "You won't find me easy prey mutants!"

M was trying a telepathic intrusion, but it was to no effect. Ahab was defended well on the telepathic front. He's guarded. I can't get in there.

Part of Havok was glad that Monet's telepathy had been ineffective because he desired a physical confrontation. Ahab was a worthless waste of space that had made it his life to hunt down and terrorize mutants. More people had died today by the hand of Ahab and Havok couldn't help but to think it was his fault. It was more than Alex could tolerate.

Pipeline could see the stress on Alex's face. While in the Genoshan army, Havok had always been a man of responsibility. He accepted the consequences of his actions at all times, but Cormic wasn't sure if Havok was taking on too much responsibility. The deaths of today was not the fault of X-Force, but maybe if they had been a little faster in getting what they needed from their locations, lives could have been saved.

Ahab stood still waiting for someone to make a move. Pipeline was starting to feel like he was in an American western movie. The air was still and stale, the sun hung high over them and trash blew up and down the street. A Pepsi can blew over Pipeline's foot and he said, "He's mighty confident."

Havok knew that Ahab had every reason to be. Ahab had hunted down and killed many powerful mutants in his time. It would be crazy to underestimate the man and in this instance it could be fatal. Alex looked back to Pipeline and silently mouthed the words, "Jumble him up."

Pipeline nodded and looked in the direction of Ahab. For just an instance, Ahab's body was broken down like computer bits and then it quickly reformed. The middle-aged man stumbled and suddenly appeared out of his element. Pipeline's unique form of teleportation could have that effect sometimes.

"Now!" Havok yelled as M flew past him in a great hurry.

Marrow walked behind Alex with a visible limp. Havok heard the distinct sucking sound her skin makes when removing bone daggers and asked, "I hope you don't think you're getting in there."

"Why not?" Marrow asked practically growling.

"Because you're hurt. You move in if he takes the rest of us down and not until then," Havok said as he pointed to Pipeline and then in the direction of Ahab.

The Genoshan lifted up his laser rifle and fired it at Ahab. He fired off a single red stream of energy that propelled through the air. M was slightly ahead of the beam, but it quickly passed her up. She watched it speed right towards Ahab and he lifted his harpoon to deflect the blast. The blast roasted over the point of Ahab's harpoon and it was then that M saw her opportunity. She dove to Ahab's side and drove an elbow into his face.

M's super strength propelled Ahab into one of the alley's brick walls. His body bounced off the gun-scarred wall and hit the ground with a plunk. Before he could get to his, black tendrils were wrapping across Ahab's body in rapid fashion. They wrapped tightly around him and lifted him into the air in a contorted position.

"I could just snap you in two," Abyss said as his body broke apart into more tendrils to wrap around the mutant hunter. "But I don't think that would be as much fun!"

Havok yelled up the alley, "Nils! Finish it!"

Ahab grunted underneath Abyss's pressure, but refused to be broken by it. Electricity erupted from Ahab's purple and red body armor. The white hot power ripped across Abyss's tendrils and shocked him into letting go of Ahab. Falling to the ground, Ahab landed on his feet and avoided what might have been a devastating punch from M.

Kicking out his leg, Ahab swung it back and took M's feet out from under her. She landed flat on her back and Ahab's knee was in her throat.

A circular stream of cosmic energy roared through the alley and struck Ahab head on. The mutant hunter was propelled through the air and directly into a rusty trash dumpster. Corroded metal gave way to Ahab's body and he was smothered by trash ranging from bloody rags to rough tissue that tried to pass for toilet paper. As he tried to rise to his feet, another stream of circle cosmic rings smashed into Ahab's torso and flung him through the rusty dumpster.

Havok walked closer to Ahab with both of his fists emanating energy. He saw M getting to her feet and Abyss coughing from Ahab's electrical attack. The sight of his soldier struggling to regain his strength infuriated Havok and he blasted Ahab again, sending him through a brittle plaster wall and into an abandoned warehouse. "You're not walking away from this Ahab!"

Alex reared his hand back to deliver another blast when he was knocked to the ground by Shatterstar. As the warrior lay atop his leader, a large blue electrical arc surged through the air and struck Pipeline in the back. He dropped his laser rifle and was flung through the air. M caught the smoking Pipeline in her arms. Grimly, Shatterstar said, "We have company."

Three hovercyles flew over the men and both immediately jumped to their feet. Havok groaned and dusted his shirt off. "How many of these clowns does he have with him?"

"They're going for Ahab," Blind Faith said as he walked over to the two of them with Marrow clinging to his side. She was more hurt than she was willing to admit.

Havok bit his bottom lip tightly and looked at the limp Pipeline in M's arms. "We pull back. I'm not going to risk the lives of my people."

Shatterstar then made a simple request. "Let me stay. I can track them."

Havok looked down at the alley at the hole he had created and watched as Ahab's Hounds were helping him to his feet. Two remained on their hovercyles waiting for an attack. Alex flung his arms back and said, "Madrox, get the injured and take them back to Muir Island. The rest of you, back away now."

His orders were followed without question and Havok unleashed a massive burst of cosmic energy that not only came from his arms, but from the entire front half of his body. The blast heated the air around it to a crisp and rammed into the building Ahab was trying to make his escape from. What was already a faulty building buckled under Havok's blast and began to collapse.

As Havok ran back down the alley he thought, _Try to get out of that!_

Thunderous destruction followed him as he ran and met his remaining soldiers back out in the street. M looked intensely annoyed while Shatterstar appeared ready to make a move at any moment. Blind Faith folded his arm across his chest and asked, "So now what's the plan comrade?"

"I didn't come all this way to leave without finding The Genegineer. We're going for him," Havok said. He was trying to fight back the anger he felt about his injured people and focus on the task at hand. The best way to keep their injuries from being in vain would be by achieving the objective.

Besides, the folks he had left were more than enough to get the job done. M had proven herself to be of tremendous worth and Shatterstar was a warrior of the highest caliber. Blind Faith was his right hand man and would make capturing The Genegineer that much easier.

"What about Ahab and his boys?" M asked. They had hurt Cormic and she was going to pound their faces in until they apologized. If they still had any teeth left by then.

"Ahab and his goons are taken care of for the time being. We didn't come here for them and quite frankly we had absolutely no idea that we would encounter them," Havok said.

M was indignant. "Again, we are ignoring the bigger threat. First, we choose to ignore Dark Beast and now we want to just let Ahab go."

Blind Faith wished he could shake some sense into the woman. "He just toppled a building on them. I would think that is slightly more than just letting someone go."

"We need answers from them!" M shouted.

"That is already being taken care of," Blind Faith said. "Madrox was given an order to take one of the defeated Hounds back to Muir Island. We'll get our answers there."

Havok tried to hide his surprise. "So that means Genegineer needs to be our main goal. It is what we came here for and it is what we're going to do."

"And I can lead the way," Blind Faith said.

M looked back at the pile of rubble and balled her fists up. "Let's find this little weasel so we can go back to that dreary island. I'll break the pirate's back another day."

Alex sympathized with Monet's anger because if anyone had hurt Polaris or Madylene he would have lost it. Unfortunately, X-Force and what they did wasn't a place for such sentiments. They were operating in a world where people got hurt like other people breathed. Tears and anger had to be left for the trip home.

**=X=**

Savante sat alone in the dark bunker and waited for the call. His single most important supplier of goods and services was not a man that Adel could ignore. Sure, the supplier demanded a lot, but much was provided in return. Since the incident in Russia, his supplier had been nervous because mutants were involved. Mutants that were (or probably still are) X-Men. When the supers got involved it made everyone nervous.

Taking a long drag from his cigar, Savante tried not to think of how upset his supplier was. The man had a cold temper that was slow in freezing its recipients. He wished he had brought down a bottle of champagne to compliment the verbal beat down he was about to receive. Maybe he would be able to dull it.

Finally, the phone rang and Savante slowly lifted it to his ear. "Sir?"

The voice was cruelly calm. "You have a leak."

Sweat began to bead at Adel's forehead and he tugged at his collar for air. "I'm looking into it now sir."

"I suggest you come across some answers shortly before your clientele evaporates."

"Was Ahab not successful?" Adel asked. He had a feeling that he knew the answer, but he didn't get paid to make assumptions like that.

"Only in distracting them, but The Genegineer will still escape with his life. I have sent one of my associates to extract him."

Savante breathed a sigh of relief. At least the man was alive. "That's good news at least."

"I would have preferred to let Ahab complete the mission, but we adjust as we need to."

Savante felt that cold chill coming through the phone. "Is there any way I can help?"

"Find your leak."

A dial tone met Savante's muted response.

**=X=**

The Genegineer ignored the young girl's screams he heard behind him as he vigorously typed away at his computer consoles in the hopes of transferring all of his studies to his next base of operations. The screaming was soon overcome by a large slurping noise and turning back to its source, the gaunt Genegineer said, "Marius must you really feed so loudly?"

"Only when the meal is as delicious as this," Emplate said as he lifted his hand from the young girl's chest and dropped her to the floor.

The Genegineer had little problem letting Emplate feed on his failed experiments simply because Marius was so interesting to observe. The vampiric mouths that were in the center of his spindly hands were a wonder for The Genegineer to see in action. Then watching Emplate take on that mutant's powers was simply magnificent. Tolerating the man's arrogance was made easy by the wonder of his physical nature.

"Consider her a freebie. The next one is a charge," The Genegineer said as he continued to type at the computer.

"Of course," Emplate said as he looked around the mostly empty laboratory. The only subjects left were those that The Genegineer had deemed failures. Their mutual ally had already removed the others. "I think we should leave. Company may be atop our heads any minute. I feel my sister and her friends coming."

Pushing his thick glasses back onto his face, the nearly bald Arab man said, "I refuse to leave any scrap of my work behind. Devil at my door or not!"

"You may not mind risking your life, but I very much value mines," Emplate said as he pulled a gun out of the inside of his black jacket. It was a sleek silver pistol and the weapon was quickly pointed at the back of The Genegineer's head. "I was sent here to make sure your escape was insured. I will not fail."

Tightening up at the threat, the geneticist said, "So be it. Perhaps my dealings with you and the others need to be rethought."

"Oh be reasonable my friend. You're in too deep to turn back now," Emplate said. The Genegineer swore he could have felt a smile coming from underneath the large purple respirator Marius had covering the lower half of his gray face.

**=X=**

Havok's cosmic rings ripped open the door to The Genegineer's lab and M flew in immediately behind the destruction. With her enhanced senses, she quickly gauged the room for any immediate threat. "I don't detect anything threatening."

Alex stepped over the wreckage that had been the entrance and looked around in complete darkness. Monet had night vision, but he wasn't equipped with such a blessing. "Is anyone even in here?"

"I do sense six minds, but no hostile intentions coming from them. They're just scared," M said.

"Well then let's find them," Havok said biting back the boiling disappointment in his mind. "Shatterstar find some way to cut the lights on back in here. M, keep us in a telepathic loop. We need to split up to try and find these people. Stay on the lookout for potential booby traps."

What Havok really wanted to do was scream at the top of his lungs. They had lost Genegineer because they were too distracted with Ahab and his crew. What were the chances he would have to deal with a threat like Ahab while he was trying to track down The Genegineer? That thought clung to him for a moment and then began to nag at him. What were the chances…?

"I found it!" Shatterstar shouted from afar as the lights in the facility flickered to life.

Alex shouted back. "Found what?"

_Could you boys please quiet it down! He found your precious neogenics technology._

_At least we've had one success out of this_ Alex thought in the psi-web.

I found out six minds M said. They're kids

Havok gripped his fists together and tried not to let outrage mix in with his disappointment. _Do what you can to help them. We'll be there shortly_

With the lights now on, Havok could see that the building had been completely stripped. It was as if it had never been occupied at all. Alex knew it now. There was no way a facility could have been cleaned that fast by one person. Someone had tipped Genegineer off to them coming and helped him make a clean getaway. It probably had something to do with Ahab attacking them.

"Something bothering you Alex?" Blind Faith asked before the two mutants broke away from each other.

"I think we've been duped," Havok said. "And I intend to get to the bottom of it."

**=X=**

"This could have all been avoided if you simply had put your focus into Dark Beast like I said," Emma Frost said through the satellite feed. She was sitting seductively in her chair with her legs crossed while her arms were folded across her chest. Simmering smug and cool anger was mixed in with her platinum blonde hair and seductive features.

"You make this sound as if it was a failure. I think we might be on the verge of uncovering something big."

Emma was not convinced. "You're making assumptions Alex. Has the captive even been interrogated yet?"

"We're working on that. He's a Hound so not only do we have to work through Ahab's mental conditioning we also have to be careful of mental traps he might have set up," Havok replied. He didn't like being put on the spot and he hated even less having to report to Emma. Even though he had his team, Emma was always going to be in the picture.

"I'm assuming that you have Monet working on that," Emma said.

Havok narrowed his eyes. "She's our only telepath."

"And a favorite pupil of mine," Emma reminded harshly. "Do not put her in harm's way unnecessarily."

"I wouldn't ask her to do anything I wasn't willing to."

"So now are you prepared to listen to reason and find Dark Beast?" Emma asked feeling as if Havok's failure in Africa would be enough to prod him to her thinking.

Havok smiled. He enjoyed crushing Emma. "No, I intend to stick on Adel's behind. There seven kids at that facility I owe it to."

Emma's eyebrow perked up. "Why are only six reporting to the Institute then?"

"The seventh was a corpse," Havok said as he held up a picture for Emma to see. It was of a young African girl with circular teeth marks across her collar bone. "And she had very familiar markings on her."

Emma groaned. "Not this bastard. How does he fit into it?"

Havok shrugged. "Not sure yet, but Monet is none too happy about it."

"I can imagine. Her and Marius' relationship has never been pleasant. Fine Alex, you can continue your pursuit of Adel. But I expect progress and I expect it soon."

"What's your definition of progress?" Havok asked both out of a need to have the last snippy comment and genuine curiosity.

Frost was blunt in a way that worked against her natural beauty. "Kill Ahab, send Adel to prison for a very long time, capture Emplate, and deliver Dark Beast to my bedroom door. Anything else?"

"Does Logan agree with all of this?"

"Of course he does. Make it happen darling," Emma said as the screen faded to black.

Havok grinned from ear to ear. He knew he was going to get his way.

**=X=**

Emplate would soon need more marrow and he knew that the man seated next to him could provide it. "I will need to feed when we land."

Shrugging, the gaunt Arab man said, "Of course. I have just the right morsel waiting for you."

Looking out of the private jet's window, Marius asked, "Why Myanmar? The place is a proverbial cess pool."

The Genegineer smiled with sick pleasure. "All the easier for me to conduct my work."

"Speaking of your work, I apologize for making you leave some of your technology behind."

Marius didn't normally apologize to anyone, but that smile of Genegineer's made him uncomfortable. It said a great deal about the scientist's depravity. "I doubt that my sister's team will be able to put any of it to use."

"Once Pandora's Box is opened it's not at all an easy task to close it again," The Genegineer replied.

Emplate could only wonder what the man meant.

**Next Issue: We're on our twelfth issue folks! Plots abound as we zoom in to focus some on Dr. Reyes. Just what secret is she keeping from Havok?**


	12. Chapter 12

**X-FORCE #12**

**Doctor's Orders**

_Previously in X-Force: Havok and his team traveled to Africa to capture the underground scientist known as The Genegineer. While in Mogadishu they were confronted by Ahab and his Hounds. In the proceeding battle Marrow, Pipeline, and Abyss were all injured. Emplate helped The Genegineer to escape from X-Force's grasp. Emma as result has laid out very clear goals for Havok and his team to achieve. But how else has she exerted control over the team?_

**Months Ago**

Dr. Reyes stepped into Emma Frost's office and gently closed the door behind her. She was dressed in a plain white tee and slim fitting jeans. It was a rare off day for the Xavier Institute's resident doctor. The place was a long cry from her practice in Harlem, but she was still doing good work. Helping oppressed people had been her goal since the day her father died in front of her. Poor African-Americans and Hispanics along with mutants were some of The United States' most ignored people. It was her duty to do what she could to help her fellow man; a lesson that many in her country could stand to learn.

But looking at the dazzling Emma Frost it was hard to apply the word oppressed to her. She glowed from head to toe and managed to look good in things that would give any average woman stage fright. Cecelia found it hard to conceive of such a woman being romantically involved with Charles. First, he was old so—

"Please don't complete that thought," Emma Frost said as she brushed a few strands of hair out of her eye.

Cecelia shrugged. "Sorry. So is there a reason you called me here?"

"Logan has made me aware that you've decided to accept our offer and work with X-Force," Emma said as she poured herself a cup of tea from a porcelain pot. "I'm glad he was able to convince you."

"I don't like keeping secrets from everyone, but if this team is going to be in as much danger as Logan says then I didn't have much choice," Cecelia said.

"Yes, your medical expertise is really unmatched among our ranks. Even Hank, bless his soul, doesn't have as much raw surgical experience as you."

Cecelia's face was stone. "Can you get past flattery-ville and get to the point?"

Emma laughed. "Logan was right. You do have moxy. Then I guess I shouldn't try to indulge you. We need someone on the inside to watch Havok and we want it to be you."

Indignation cut to the core of what Cecelia felt at that moment. "I didn't agree to this team to be a spy. I'm a doctor. You have plenty of other X-Men you can give that task to!"

Frost continued on as if Cecelia's outcry had been a whisper in the wind. "That is precisely why we need you to do this for us. You're not an X-Man. At least not in the experienced sense. You really haven't dealt with the Sinisters, Apocalypses, and Onslaughts of our lives. You can see things with a pair of eyes more grounded in the mundane. There is no one else better than you who can gauge when someone is going over the edge."

Cecelia cut her eyes at the woman and projected quite a few profane thoughts the woman's way. Frost finally laughed and said, "Take it as a compliment darling. I do not think you're less of an X-Man than anyone else. My track record should be proof enough of that. And there is something I can give you in return."

After a few minutes of silence, Cecelia finally said, "Start talking."

**=X=**

**The Present**

Cecelia ducked Cable's Psimatar and ran her shoulder into his gut. As his body tumbled, Reyes used the momentum to flip off of him and square in front of Moonstar. By the time she had got her balance back an arrow was pointed square in her face.

"Your timing's off, but you're getting better at anticipating your opponent's moves," Moonstar said as she lowered the arrow.

"And I haven't nailed you with my Psimatar in almost two sessions. I think that's a record," Cable said as he stood to his feet.

Watching from afar was Nightcrawler who teleported closer to the three mutants and said, "Ja! Good show Cecelia. You're starting to get the stiffness out."

Cecelia smiled. "I've been hitting the gym. Though I guess that doesn't really matter."

"No it does," Cable said. "What your mind believes to be real is what it will project."

Cecelia huffed and leaned forward on her knees. "Guess I better start believing I can actually fight."

Danielle put a hand on her shoulder and said, "You're more than capable of being in the battlefield. You're able to hold your own now in one on one fights with me, Cable, Nightcrawler, and Logan. It's going to take quite a bit of time before you're able to take two of us on at the same time."

"Agreed," Cable said as he strapped his Psimatar to his back. "Your mutant ability affords you a defensive advantage many don't have."

"That is being advanced to offensive capabilities," Moonstar added. "As much as I don't like she knows how to get people to think of their powers in different ways."

Nightcrawler, with a pleased look still on his face, said, "Well, it is nearly our time. Same place tomorrow night?"

Cecelia wiped the sweat from her brow. "You know it."

The images of the three mutants melted away and Cecelia awoke from her slumber. She had been sleeping on the floor ever since arriving on Muir Island because of how much she was sweating. Whatever happened to her when she was mentally training with Danielle, Nathan, Kurt, and Logan happened to her in the real world. Every drop of sweat and bruise was realized by her body.

Rising up from the sleeping bag she had on the floor, Cecelia gripped her aching side and said, "I do this again because?"

**=X=**

Dr. Reyes looked at Marrow seated on the patient's bed and said, "I know you're going to be stubborn and do what you want to do anyway, but I think you need to take it easy for at least two more days."

"I feel fine healer," Marrow said. "Why should I stay here?"

"Because as remarkable as your skeletal structure is, you still need to let it heal completely. You suffered some major skeletal trauma in Somali. So while most of the major damage is repaired there are still dozens of tiny fractures throughout your skeleton which could become something major. I believe the only reason you haven't entirely healed by now is that you taxed your powers too much in Mogadishu."

Marrow smirked. "Concern for me? How sweet healer."

"I know that you don't mean that, but I do Marrow. Take it easy or you risk injuring yourself all over again. Sit down with Abyss and watch whatever it is that you do."

"It's called Robot Boy."

"Sure, whatever," Dr. Reyes said as she looked over Pipeline's diagnostics. "I just need you to take it easy."

Reyes had never had the friendliest relationship with Marrow, but she had respect for the young woman and all that she had been through. Reyes couldn't say that she would be much different from Marrowi if the same things had happened to her. There were just some things that irrevocably changed a person no matter who they were. Having your family slaughtered before your eyes happened to be among those things.

Cecelia felt a great swell of sympathy for the young woman, but she had no intention of showing it. Marrow did not work off of pity and resented anyway who sent it her way. The only way to befriend her was to never take her tragic past into account when dealing with her.

"How is Abyss?" Marrow asked.

"Thankfully, his skin isn't anything like a normal man's. Because of his tensile nature, electricity doesn't hurt him quite as negatively as other people. He should be up and about in a couple of days," Cecelia said trying to hold back a smile. The way Marrow asked about Abyss was the same way she use to ask about Cannonball.

"I'll leave to your work then healer," Marrow said as she hopped off of her bed and walked out of the room.

Cecelia revealed her grin as soon as she was gone. It would be good for Marrow to have a crush. Hopefully, it would calm her down.

**=X=**

**Eastern SHIELD Helicarrier, _The Horus_ **

G.W. Bridge finally found himself in a position of power and he did not intend to fail. He had always played second fiddle to Nick Fury, but Bridge desired to lead. It wasn't that he didn't respect Fury because the man had done amazing work over the years. Bridge just wanted his chance to do the same thing. It seemed like he was never going to get that opportunity as long as he stayed at SHIELD, but now that had completely changed.

One Helicarrier was simply not enough in the ever changing global landscape and the decision was made to have a second Helicarrier patrol the world. G.W. was given control of _The Horus_ and his jurisdiction was The Eastern Hemisphere. It was a higher position that came with a host of new responsibilities. Bridge felt like he had been given access to a buffet.

He wasn't necessarily a fan of the bureaucracy, but he felt that it was best he was positioned as the SHIELD leader in the Eastern Hemisphere, especially when it came to the African continent. The people of Africa needed to see a face like theirs being in charge of their safety. So he could deal with the paper work and politics to get results.

Seated at the head of his Briefing Room, a large communications screen was behind his desk and in front of him were his fifty top agents. The Helicarrier housed far more than that, but these fifty were his message carriers. Whatever was said in this room would be disseminated by these fine officers. Another perk of this assignment was that Bridge had been able to pick every agent that was on _The Horus. _Everyone he had, he had because he wanted them.

"Ok ladies and gentleman, lets get this party rolling," Bridge said as a detailed map layout of Mogadishu appeared on the screen behind him. "Seems we had ourselves a bit of rumbling in Somalia a couple of days ago. I need details people."

"We were able to pull a few names out of the melee," Agent 59, Darick Roberson, said. "Ahab, Nova, and Genegineer. We did some cross referencing and we pulled up information on what the names could mean."

The communication screen flashed to show a picture of Dr. David Moreau of Genosha and Agent 59 continued. "The Genegineer was the top dog back when Genosha was enslaving their mutant population. From all reports he's dead, but I think we all know how that works."

"There is also Dr. Sasha Ryan who was supposed to have been Moreau's successor," Agent 682, Isabella "Izzy" Dirk said.

"Then we find this Dr. Ryan and ask her exactly why the name of the Genegineer is popping up so far away from home. Any knowledge of her current location?" Bridge asked interested in what old Genoshan politics was doing popping up again.

Agent 59 nodded. The light flickered off his bald brown head from time to time, but Bridge wasn't going to make a joke about it now. "She's working in Switzerland with Frost Biological Solutions."

Bridge's eyebrow perked up. "Frost? As in Emma?"

Roberson shook his head. "No, her older brother Christian runs this company. It is in no way affiliated with Emma."

"If he's anything like his sister then we need to watch him, but that's for another day. Just find Dr. Ryan and see what you can dig up. I think I'm going to pay Ms. Frost a visit."

**=X=**

"Emma's a big girl. She can take care of herself," Wolverine said as he ducked a kick from Cecelia and dodged to the right.

The doctor kicked up dust when her foot rushed back to the ground to help her maintain her balance. "Xavier's going to find out about Emma's operation eventually. It won't be bonita."

Logan sucked his teeth and yanked his head back from a right hook. Cecelia was starting to move fast. "Everyone gives her all the credit."

Cecelia found something enduring about the furry, little man. He was full of energy and life no matter the circumstances even if he was a bit grim. "She's a woman. Don't we always get the credit for doing deceptive things?"

Logan snickered. "A feminist eh?"

Cecelia flipped backwards when Logan made a charge for her and struck him in the jaw. He was going easy on her. No way would she have ever landed that blow. Unless, he was distracted. "Something bothering you?"

Logan laughed hoarsely. "Not that obvious am I?"

"Pretty much," Cecelia said folding her arms across her chest. She didn't intend to leave this little psychic jam session until Logan told her what it was that had him off his game. The training that he along with Nathan, Kurt, and Dani had been providing was making her into a combat capable mutant. But she wasn't that good.

"I'm not so sure that we should have you spying on Alex for us," Logan said.

At that point, Emma's astral image appeared between the two mutants. "And why not? Tell me you haven't lost your stomach for this?"

"You know it's not that Frost. I just don't think we should be hindering the cohesion of X-Force. Having a spy in the midst will not make Alex happy. Besides I think we need to trust him."

Emma groaned and flipped back her hair. A needless act considering she had no real corporeal form. "You are letting your friendship with the man blind you to the needs of this team. We can't have him running around autonomously with no one to answer to. He's already starting making his own moves without even consulting us."

"Emma's right," Cecelia chimed in. "Havok is a different man from the one I think you use to know Logan. He needs to be watched and I'm a big girl. Just like Emma, I can take care of myself."

"I have no doubts abut that Doc," Logan said. "I've been around enough firecrackers like you to know that."

Feeling victorious, Emma gave her pristine "Valley Girl" smile and said, "Then that's settled. We'll continue on our chosen course."

Logan still looked upset about the situation. "Alex is a good man. He's been through a lot. We shouldn't paint him as some loose cannon."

"What I saw in his mind suggests otherwise Logan," Emma said as her astral form continued to float between the two mutants. "Havok is a changed man and he needs to be watched."

Cecelia herself had never spent a great deal of time with Havok before she joined up with X-Force so she had little idea of how he use to be. What she saw now though was a man determined to complete his mission, but Reyes wasn't sure if that mission matched up with Emma and Logan's mission. It seemed like Havok had his own goals that he was working towards.

"I think Alex has his own set of plans in mind," Cecelia said. "So Emma is right to want to watch him."

Logan still didn't seem like he was buying it. "I'll need more than your word before I accept that darling. Alex is a good man."

"When good men have to stare Hell in the face it changes them," Emma said. "And Havok is no exception."

**Next Issue: The team continues to track down those that Adel is dealing with leading them right to Gentech and AIM. Who is Sledge and what does he have to do with Havok?**


	13. Chapter 13

**X-FORCE #13**

AIM It Right PT. 1

_Previously: X-Force's first mission found them in Russia dealing with the likes of Selene and Dark Beast. The object of contention was deadly Phalanx samples. Ultimately, X-Force was able to retrieve the items. Their next order of business found them in the heart of Somalia trying to track down the Genegineer, but running afoul of Ahab and his Hounds. The Genegineer escaped and X-Force learned something horrible. Emplate had been in the city too!_

Abyss was floating slightly off his bed and was unable to move any part of his body. He was in the middle of a dream involving Jennifer Anniston and a bucket of chicken from KFC (far too many late night snacks) when his sheets were ripped off of him and he was flung on his back. With his arms and legs spread out in this mid-air levitation, Abyss feared that the worst was about to happen. He couldn't even fix his mouth to cry for help.

A smoky purple haze descended down from the roof and hovered over Abyss. From the mist a lithe hand reached out and stroke Abyss' lips. "You worry too much child. I do not come to do you harm."

The mist suddenly took on the form of Selene and Abyss fell back into his bed with Selene atop him. The Genoshan groaned as he felt Selene's knee dig into his ribcage, but he didn't complain because he was distracted. If beauty had a smell then Selene was wearing it. Whatever scent was sprayed across her skin was enough to drive Abyss wild and with Selene so close to him certain biological functions couldn't be helped.

Selene laughed at what poked her. "Oh we'll have time for that yet Nils. Just be patient."

Fighting what his hormones were telling him, Abyss said, "You probably shouldn't be here."

The External leaned in closer to Abyss and he could now feel her pure breath touch him. "Oh isn't that what makes it fun Nils?"

"No it isn't," Abyss answered with a straight face. "Do you really think Havok isn't keeping a damn tight eye over this place?

Selene moved her lips over Abyss' nose and was only centimeters away from it. "I doubt he counted magic into the mix."

Afraid to move, Abyss said. "You'd be surprised."

A knock came at Abyss' door and the gruff voice of Marrow projected through it. "Abyss? Are you alright?"

"Yea I'm alright. Just fell out of the bed. Sorry I woke you up!"

"Ok. I'm going back to sleep. Stop making so much noise."

Abyss breathed a sigh of relief. Marrow was just as likely to come through his door as she was to have walked away. Fate seemed to be on his side today.

"You have to go. You can't be here."

Selene pushed herself off of Abyss and began to float over him. "Then promise that you will come to me."

Despite his better judgment, Abyss nodded and Selene vanished into the same purple mist that she had come from.

**=X=**

M sat next to Pipeline's bed in Dr. Reyes' infirmary and caressed his hand. He had suffered an electrical attack in Somalia from one of Ahab's Hounds and was confined to bed rest by Muir Island's resident doctor. Monet had been spending most of her time at his side and was unable to explain to herself why. She had told herself after Everett she wasn't going to fall for anyone, but here she was doing it again.

Cormick was a good man and they had so much in common. They came from places of establishment and prestige. He understood her worldview and did not criticize her for it. She could be herself unabashedly. For all Everett's goodness, he never allowed her that. Tenderly, she put her hand on Cormick's and sighed.

"Is this all our lives are ever going to be? Fighting?" Monet asked herself and the sleeping Pipeline. Sometimes she thought that the fight was all she really wanted in her life, but now she had second thoughts. Her powers seemed to demand that she fight, but didn't she deserve her own bit of happiness. The perfect woman never seemed to be able to find the perfect life.

Dr. Reyes walked into the infirmary with a clipboard in her hand. She glanced at M and looked back down to her clipboard. "So I guess you're going to tell me that you don't need to sleep either."

M didn't look back. "Not now Doctor. I am not in the mood."

Cecelia realized it was time to switch from her personal persona and into her doctor frame of mind. She walked up to M and placed a hand on her shoulder. "He'll be fine. Electric shocks are never an easy thing for the body to handle, but Cormick is tough."

"I know he'll pull through. I can feel his mind already trying to pull out of unconsciousness, but what if he's not ok next time? I already lost one man I loved. I don't think I can do it again."

Cecelia wasn't sure exactly what to say. She had never lost someone in this line of work, but there was one experience she could relate. "I never lost anyone I loved doing this X-Men thing, but I guess I never really had much time for love either. But I do remember when my brother left for the military. I was scared every day that he was going to come home in a body bag, but I learned something from being that scared all the time."

M laughed at Cecelia going into her wise sage mode. "What?"

"My brother knew what he was doing and he chose his life. Me being scared for him all the time wasn't what he wanted or what he needed. What he needed was someone back home who loved him and accepted the life he had chose for himself. Pipeline needs that from you."

"Maybe you're right," Monet said as she ran a hand across Pipeline's sweaty face. "I don't know how it happened. But this man made me fall for him."

**=X=**

Havok was on his hundredth push-up and still couldn't get his mind off of Africa. How the hell did Emplate fit into all of this? The guy liked to snack on mutants and The Genegineer made a hobby out of playing with mutant DNA. Logic would dictate that the two were connected because they offered something to each other, but Alex could only figure out one-half of the equation. Emplate was probably snacking off of The Genegineer's experiments. He was getting a buffet instead of having to hunt for it.

Pushing himself off of the ground for his last push-up, Havok wiped the sweat off of his forehead and proceeded to walk across the gym to the bench where his white towel was. Alex ran it across his face so he didn't see Blind Faith walk into the gym. When he pulled back his towel, he acknowledged the priest.

"Something I can do for you Alexi?"

"Yes, I think we need to talk about Madrox."

Alex knew that this was going to be a problem. He had murdered the dupe out of mercy back in Somalia, but he knew not everyone was going to see it that way. They were still trapped in the old rules that had been set up by his brother and Xavier. What they needed to learn was that they were operating under two very different people. Emma and Logan didn't have the same expectations that Scott and the Professor had.

"Ok. So let's talk about it."

Blind Faith wasn't sure if Havok was going to even listen to what he had to say. Lately, it seemed like Havok was off in his own world. When he first joined this team though, Alex asked him to be his conscience when he lost his way. He wasn't about to shy away from his job the first time he was required to actually do it. "Havok, killing that dupe has left some of the team shaken up. Particularly Madrox. He's an old friend is he not?"

"Of course he is."

"Then imagine how he must feel having seen you kill a version of him without flinching."

Havok saw the point, but didn't see the purpose in elaborating on it. What was done was done and there was no turning back. Besides, they many more pressing issues to deal with. Like how the hell Emplate figured into what happened in Africa. Then there was the continued hunt for Adel and the disassembling of his organization. Not to mention the location of Dark Beast. He wanted to find the butcher so he could end the furry bastard's miserable life.

"Are you even listening to me Alex? You need to address your team's concerns."

"I will. I'm going to talk to Madrox. Let him know I only thought I was doing the right thing."

Blind Faith appeared satisfied. "Ok. Please just think more about team morale. We have to keep this ship floating."

**=X=**

Paris, France

Selene sat in her coach as her servant, Julian, rubbed her feet. "I have to find a way to make him mines. He doesn't trust me completely and I don't think he ever will."

"Then forgive me my lady, why pursue him?"

The question was a valid one, but the answer frightened Selene. "Because I'm intrigued. Because I'm lonely. Because I think I actually care for him."

"In such a short amount of time Dark Lady?" Julian asked partly because he felt a twinge of jealously. He cared for the woman he served.

"When you get to be as old as me Julian you start to understand how short time is for the people around you. You learn to snatch your pleasures and enjoy them."

Julian wished that he could be one of those pleasures. Selene was so beautiful and so worthy of being named after the goddess of the moon. She was every bit as majestic and awe-inspiring as the celestial body, but she had no interest in him. The most contact he had with her when she needed to sap away a bit of life-force from him, but he stayed by her side because she had saved him. He had been a junkie on the street before Selene offered him something more. She had given him immortality.

"If you care for him my mistress then you should pursue him."

Selene smiled. "That is why I like you Julian. I may have an idea."

"My lady?"

"I believe I shall use The Spell of Century Entrapment to bring Abyss and I closer together."

**=X=**

**Muir Island**

"So I see you're still gung ho about tracking down Adel," Emma said hoping that nothing was caught in or on her teeth. She had to make sure her appearance was at its best no matter what and she had just eaten not too long before talking to Havok. It was only a square of cheese, but perfection sometimes was best maintained in small doses. Even in the most serious situations, perfection was required.

"He's the target. Everything is revolving around him. We have to see this through."

"And I told you that you could so I'm not going to press the issue. What progress is being made?"

Havok wasn't sure how much he wanted to tell Emma because he felt that she was hiding things from him. He wanted to be on even footing with the woman. "We've been tracking down the flight patterns of Adel's assistant, Eric DuBois. He's been making quite a few trips to London and Libya."

"Go on," Emma said hoping it was obvious she wanted him to get to the point. She had mastered useless droning in The Hellfire Club, but she was not a fan of it.

"He's made contact with Gentech and AIM officials in both of these places. We know one person is a certain Matthew Raynor and we've located a significant AIM base in Libya on its coast."

"Sound information. So what are you going to do with it?"

"Split up. Kidnap Raynor and penetrate the AIM base."

Emma smiled in that way you might at a person being difficult. "While bold, that's out of the question Havok. You need to operate as one team, especially with two of your members down."

"We have a certain window of opportunity that we need to operate in Emma."

"Then choose one, but I won't have you spreading this team paper thin. I want there to be a team around when you go after Dark Beast."

Emma cut off the transmission and Havok fists were so tight they were likely to implode on themselves. He knew what he was doing and he was going to damn well do it. Once he succeeded then Emma could gawk at the results. Before he briefed the team there was someone he needed to talk to.

**=X=**

Havok knocked on the door and said, "Is it ok if I come in Jamie?"

He waited a few seconds and Madrox appeared at the door. He was obviously trashed by all the beer cans strewn around his room. Havok stepped over a few of them and said, "I did this huh?"

"Oh you mean by blowing my fucking head off? Naw, its not that at all," Madrox said as he flopped down on his futon and started flipping through channels. "Seriously, its not. I just keep thinking about all the destruction in that city."

Alex moved to sit next to Jamie, who flinched just a little bit. That hurt Havok more than he thought it would. "I'm sure I contributed to this mess. I'm sorry Jamie. I really am. I acted stupidly. Thought I was doing the right thing."

"Look I know to you guys they're just dupes, but they're a part of me. When one dies I feel it man. I really do."

Havok hung his head. "I should have known that Jamie. We've been friends too long. I guess I was just battle drunk."

Jamie shook his head. "It's not just that Alex. You're different. Majorly different. The Alex I knew was always a bit of an asshole, but never scary. Out there in Mogadishu I got scared of you for the first time."

Havok's eyes drifted into some distant mental battlefield and Jamie got scared again. "Things happened. Things none of you know about. Can't know about."

"Why not? We're supposed to be your friends man. Can't you at least tell Lorna?"

"NO! Especially not her. She hates me," Havok said as he buried his face in his hands. He hated feeling this way, but Lorna still meant the world to him. And he knew that she had moved on past him. She was the last person he could confide in.

Jamie picked up an unopened beer bottle off the ground and tapped Alex with it. "You look like you can use one of these."

Alex looked up and laughed. He grabbed the brew and said, "Thanks. A drink sounds good about now."

Taking a swig from his own can, Jamie wiped the back of his mouth with his sleeve. "Apology accepted by the way."

Havok grinned. He wished that he could be as good a person as Jamie. "So you ready for another mission?"

"After a piss like a thousand times."

**=X=**

**Libya**

The balding AIM scientist looked at the protein vat containing what he hoped would be his organization's greatest weapon. He had to give a reporter to his direct superior about the mutant's condition. "The mutant subject has been fully reborn. All of his vital signs are normal and we see no abnormalities in his genetic structure."

"Any signs of leftover temporal energy?"

"No sir. We purged all of that from his system. He is completely grounded in this timeline."

The scientist' superior was a smug man in his late 30s and still holding on to dashing good looks. It made the scientist hate him even more. Not to mention those flashy white teeth.

"Is there a problem Dr. Miyuki?"

"None at all sir. Our subject should be fully operational in 22 hours."

"Keep me updated."

**NEXT ISSUE: The team splits up despite Emma telling Havok not to. And who is this mystery mutant? **


	14. Chapter 14

**X-FORCE #14**

AIM It Right PT. 2

Previously: Through to some investigative work done by the team, Havok has discerned two new clients that Adel has connections to. GenTech and AIM. Emma ordered him to pick one or the other and not try to tackle both, but Havok feels he doesn't have any choice. Besides, who listens to Emma anyway?

Havok lived for these moments now. Inside his tactical room preparing to brief his team on their new mission energized him. Just coming back to this world had nearly killed Alex because it seemed like it knew that he was so changed. King Charles and Queen Emma tried to make sense of his experiences, but they couldn't. Lifetimes were poured into his head and they couldn't figure out why. Mirages of battlefields were drawn forth from his mind that they could barely decipher. None of that mattered now because X-Force was all there was for him.

"Ok people you know why I have most of you here. Pipeline and Abyss are going to be sitting this one out."

"Quite obviously," M said to a frown from Havok.

"Right then. So our mission is going to be two-fold."

"This will require us to split-up?" Shatterstar asked as M rolled her eyes.

"Under the circumstances, we don't have much choice. Various issues are keeping us from tackling this as a full team."

While Shatterstar had no problem with splitting up, he just hoped he wouldn't be partnered with M. X-Men like her gave the rest a bad name with her arrogance and flair. Years of dealing with Monet must have drove Generation X to madness. Zebra skin boots were hugging tightly to her legs. At this moment, in the middle of a tactical meeting of all things! Barely any respect for the art of war was being shown by her.

"Could be nice if you told us who the teams were," Marrow said as she used one of her bone spurts as a toothpick to remove chunks of steak she had eaten earlier.

Dangerous and brutish as she was, Shatterstar preferred to have Marrow at his back over M. Every fiber of The Morlock screamed warrior. Finding even a sliver of that in Monet would be almost impossible. Growing up in a life of privilege would do that.

"I think it might be easier if I explain the missions first," Havok said as a holographic globe appeared in the center of the table with two blinking red dots on Great Britain and Libya. "As you can see we're going to be significantly far apart so we're not going to be able to call each other for help."

"At least until my teleportation bands are operational," Shatterstar said to a nod of acknowledgement from Havok. His pet project was going to be a great boon to X-Fore once the system was operational. The idea was to eliminate any need for vehicular transportation.

"In the meantime, we're just going to have to make due the old fashion way," Havok said as he pointed to London. "The first team is going to track down and kidnap a GenTech executive Matthew Raynor."

Marrow clicked her teeth. "Doesn't sound too difficult."

"There are many variables that could make it difficult Marrow so don't go in their cocky."

Shatterstar folded his arms across his chest and hoped. "So who else is going to London?"

"You and Madrox. M and myself will be going to infiltrate and destroy an AIM base."

Blind Faith narrowed his eyes. "And where does that leave me?"

"Daggoo has been sitting in a cell for three days. I need information. You and the Doc are going to get it."

"Is that really a good idea?" M asked. She wasn't sure if Blind Faith and Dr. Reyes were capable of handling an opponent like Daggoo. What if he broke loose from his restraints? He could kill the two of them.

"Don't worry. We're big boys and girls. We can handle ourselves," Blind Faith said his eyes still locked on Havok.

Marrow snickered. "Besides, didn't the Doc lay you out on your ass?"

"Be careful," M said like she was ready to pounce. "Or you might find yourself in a similar situation."

"Anytime pretty pretty. Anytime."

"Could you two hold off on the bickering for a just a few minutes? There is still a lot I need to cover," Havok said as the map zoomed in on London to give a better view of the city.

Blind Faith tried his best not to zone out, but he didn't like being left out. He hadn't been injured and he certainly wasn't useless in combat. Daggoo could have been interrogated after these missions were over with. What was the rush? Or why was Havok trying to keep him away?

**=X=**

Abyss sat on the edge of his bed and stretched his arms up into the arm while simultaneously letting forth a large yawn. His room was a battlefield of unkemptness, but at least now he could use the injured excuse to keep Havok from harassing him about it. Getting up from the bed, he walked over to the fridge and reached in for a Coke. To his disappointment, there wasn't one in there and all he had to look at was an empty box.

"Man the Doc definitely needs to go shopping for us again."

_Abyss, you promised you would come to me._

Nils felt a shiver at the sound of that voice. It was cold and beautiful just like the Moon. She had indeed earned her mythological name. That voice carried over him softly like the first snow of winter. Ever since last night he hadn't been able to get Selene out of his head and here she was right back in his view. Part of him wondered if the woman enjoyed torturing him with her beauty. As a Mutate, he had never been able to bear witness and recognize such things because his mind was programmed only to work.

Ever since being freed from the Mutate process, Abyss had come to understand just how much of the world he had been missing. One of those things was the companionship of a woman, but even after he was freed he doubted there would ever be much chance of that. His appearance did not lend itself to magazine covers and underwear ads. Never in his wildest dreams did he ever imagine a woman would be interested in him. Much less a woman as hauntingly beautiful as Selene was.

He still couldn't wrap his brain around why the woman was interested in him. The obvious answer seemed to be that she wanted to use him against X-Force, but his heart didn't let him believe that. And despite what the others may have said, he put a lot of value in his heart because for most of his life he never really got the chance to use it. That was something his time in slavery had taught him. Everything about him that made him an individual he cherished. Even his looks, though he was sure they would never bring him love, was something to be cherished.

_Abyss. Come to me._

There was that voice again. He almost wanted to moan at the intensity of it. Turning around, he found Selene standing there. She wrapped her arms around him and they kissed deeply. Unlike the times before, he didn't fight it. Nils allowed himself to be lost in the passion of Selene. He damn near drowned in the woman, but Nils wouldn't have fought against that fate. Let him drown and be filled with her.

Pulling away from him, Selene said, "I need you to come with me Abyss. There is something I would like for us to do."

"Right now?"

Selene smiled and made Abyss' heart thump a little faster. "Yes, right now. Your team can do without you for a while."

Abyss bit his bottom lip to think about it. "Ok. Let's go."

**=X=**

**X-Corps HQ (Boston)**

Emma sat at the head of the conference table in one of the many offices in this particular building. Warren funded X-Corporation, but they did loan out the rooms for out-of-town executive meetings. Having a function at an X-Corps building was starting to become all the rage in the corporate world. It showed new world thinking and an acceptance of change. All savvy things in the business world, but Emma's purpose here had nothing to do with a corporation.

Seated at the other end of the long table was G.W. Bridge, Commander of SHIELD East. Emma wanted to keep as much distance between her and Bridge as possible. She didn't like the man and especially didn't like the fact he had called her three in the morning for this meeting. If Charles had insisted she get dressed and go, she would have dropped a few erotic nightmares involving grotesquely fat women into Bridge's head. The idea of doing that still clung close to her mind.

Emma sat perfectly postured in her seat despite her tiredness, but had both of her legs kicked up on the table. She had managed to throw enough make-up on to look presentable. "So you called me here Commander. What do you want?"

"I want to talk about your brother."

Emma knew that her brother was going to cause problems for her eventually. "What do you want to know about him?"

"There was recently a pretty big mutant clash in Mogadishu. We have reason to think your brother may know something about it."

Making no effort to hide her annoyance, Emma said, "Would you like me to call him then?"

"No need for that. I already have men interviewing him and Dr. Sasha Ryan. The name ring a bell?"

"Not particularly."

Bridge sat his hands on his lap underneath the table and balled them up. "She was meant to be Dr. Moreau's successor as Genegineer in Genosha. A name that happened to pop up in Mogadishu. Along with a couple of other ones I'm positive you know."

Emma tensed up because his next words could expose X-Force and sent a well-laid plan into ruin. "And what are those? The suspense is just killing me."

Bridge had a reply in mind, but bit it back. "Emplate and Ahab. Both previous foes of the X-Men."

"And you think my brother is involved with them?"

"Along with a number of other people with questionable backgrounds," Bridge said as he slid a gray jumpdrive across the table to Emma. "Seems he takes after his sister."

"If he was anything like me you wouldn't have enough proof to fill a bloody piece of paper," Emma said as she snatched up the jumpdrive. "Give me a quick rundown."

"Eli Bard and Damien Tryp. You should know their type well. The businessmen where their activities in the boardroom are the smallest part of their days."

"Who else?"

Bridge wanted the jumpdrive to speak for itself but he would give her one more. "The Crafter. He's a mutant slaver." Bridge stood up from the table. "But I'm a busy man Ms. Frost. The evidence is all there."

As he rose up from his chair, Emma stared at the jumpdrive and wondered if X-Force was headed for a collision course with her brother? Could she handle that? This wasn't like Adrienne. She actually had cared about Christian. Just what rabbit hole had he fallen down and could she pull him out? Did he even want out?

**=X=**

Abyss literally stood on the waters of the Indian Ocean with Selene holding his hands. He looked around and wondered if this was some dream that she had put together. As if reading his thoughts, Selene said, "It's all real. You told me that there was much you never got to experience. Well, consider this my first offering."

Nils looked down at the gorgeous water and up at the perfect sky scatters with birds. It was almost more than he could handle. The human Magistrates had denied him this for his entire life. He deserved to see beautiful things and instead he was handed to a life of slavery. For the first time since the collar came off, he felt free.

"These are the things we deserve as mutants Abyss. We can experience life in a way that no human could possibly know."

For some reason, that statement reminded Abyss of this woman's darker nature. She had fed on humans to survive through the centuries and she did it without remorse. She was a beautiful vision, but suddenly the ocean seemed much less spectacular.

"What is wrong? Are you not pleased?"

Not wanting to speak the truth, Abyss said, "I just thought about Eliphas. It's hard to enjoy this when I know you have a psycho ex out there."

Selene laughed and put a tender hand to Abyss' cheek. His skin was smoother than any other she had ever touched and she absolutely loved it. "All in good time Abyss. He will be taken care of."

He could have fallen asleep in that hand, but then he wondered how many had died by it? So he stiffened up and Selene eyed him wearily. "Do you think I mean you harm?"

The Genosha shook his head. "No. This is all just going so fast."

"Forgive me then. But when you are as old as me you latch onto any happiness you can find."

Abyss had spent most of his life only being thought of as a source of labor. It was more than nice to be seen as a source of happiness. "Naw I'm sorry. Just not use to being treated like an actual person. I'm glad I came out here with you."

He pushed back all the negative thoughts he had of Selene and indulged in the moment.

**=X=**

Madrox pulled down the rearview mirror and tapped the communication piece in his ear. "Subject is on the move and headed this way. We should be en route in thirty minutes. Standby."

Shatterstar's voice crackled in his ear. "Be careful Madrox. We need Raynor here in one piece."

"This will be a cakewalk man. Don't worry."

Jamie had been chosen for the pick-up side of this mission for one reason. He was the only one who could convincingly drive on the left side of the road. Shatterstar's driving skills in general were questionable and Marrow had never learned how. At age sixteen, she was fighting for her life against freakish monsters on The Hill. Daddy buying her a new BMW wasn't exactly on her radar.

He could see Raynor form the mirror wrapped tight in a thick black fleece. Raynor wasn't the most attractive man. One eye drooped too low and he could stand to do a few crunches. His fingers looked like they were as long and crooked as his nose. Matted hair and a greasy bear made Madrox think that the man probably didn't engage in a lot of bathing. Jamie really hoped that the man didn't smell too bad or he'd have Marrow forcibly introduce him to a shower. That little girl could probably scare the piss out of Christopher Walken.

As Raynor got closer to the car, Jamie straightened up in his car seat and tried his best to look professional. If he could pull that off then the rest would be easy. At least he hoped. Murphy's Law always had a way of rearing its ugly head. Madrox seriously wanted to kick whoever came up with that. Right in the balls.

The GenTech executive opened up the door and slid his laptop across the seat before entering. Raynor paid no attention to his driver's appearance as he sat down and buckled up. "Jeffrey, would you mind stopping by the coffee shop before hitting the house?"

Madrox tipped is hat and did his best Cockney accent. "Sorry sir. Jeffrey is a bit under the weather. Poor chap caught the flu."

Raynor frowned and nodded. "Figures with the way this weather has been. Very well then. Take me to the coffee shop."

"Right to sir."

**=X=**

M floated close to the ground and released Havok who landed almost soundlessly. Moving down next to him, she said, "The land of Qadaffi. How positively quaint. Father never spoke very highly of this place."

"With good reason. Like much of this continent, it's a haven for terrorist and criminal organizations," Havok responded, as he made sure the guns in his waist holsters had clips in them. He was hoping that he wouldn't have to use them, but running into power dampeners was always a possibility.

"You Westerners never manage to disappoint with your arrogance. If Africa is broken it is because of the West's meddling and even in our broken state we've never created anything as destructive as atom bombs or Sentinels."

"Point taken. My apologies," Havok said as he pulled out one of the guns he had holstered at his thigh and handed it to Monet. "You might need this."

M looked at the weapon with disgust, but took it from Havok anyway. "Bullets won't do the job like my fists can."

"Agreed, but this is AIM. No telling what we might run into."

"Which is why I wonder why it's just you and me," Monet said as she began to walk to the base with Havok. She would have much preferred the aerial route, but apparently the base was covered with invisible air mines of all things. Intelligence suggested that no real land defense had been set up.

One of the technicians at the base owed Mikhail a favor and had sent him the schematics of the base and its outlining area. Despite that, Monet was sure she could survive the air mines. Havok was a whole different matter altogether. If only Pipeline was well then this mission would have just required a phone call.

"I wanted this to be an in and out mission," Havok said as he pushed some binoculars to his eyes. "The fewer people the better."

"Then why not Shatterstar? This seems like something he'd be more suited for."

"If I was after information," Havok smiled devilishly. "But I'm trying to tear this place down. We have the team's most destructive abilities."

M wasn't sure how she felt about being used like a bulldozer, but as always she knew she would excel at the task. Perfection being what it was.

**=X=**

Raynor took ragged, short breaths as he rubbed his wrists raw in an attempt to break free of the ropes placed around them. He shook himself back and forth to tilt over the chair he was tied down to, hoping that would give him some way to freedom. The time between him entering his limo and ending up here was a complete blur for him. His head was buzzing too much for him to try to fill in the gaps.

"Stop struggling. It won't do any good," Shatterstar said as he pulled the bag off his head. "We have some questions for you Mr. Raynor."

The light was burning his eyes. "We? Who else is in here?"

Marrow's raspy voice came from the shadows of the room, "Some very nasty people who don't like not getting what they want." She was eager for him to be uncooperative.

"If it's money you want, I can't get it tied up here," Raynor said as he squinted his eyes to see all of his captors.

Madrox pulled up a chair and sat directly in front of Raynor. "We have questions and what we want are answers."

"I'm not sure if I can help."

Jamie knew he would get some lame response. "If you can't you'll see how much Marrow likes grilse and why 'Star is go good at shish kabob."

Raynor's head was still buzzing so it dulled Madrox's threat. "What do you want to know?"

"Adel. The name ring a bell?"

"A business associate. That's all."

Shatterstar laughed. "Don't tell us the obvious. Assume we already know the basics."

"What projects was he helping GenTech on?" Madrox asked. He wished that 'Star hadn't used so much sedative. Raynor still looked completely out of it.

"A few projects here and there. Nothing major."

Shatterstar gave a low growl and Jamie said, "Please don't go out of your way to piss us off. What projects?"

Raynor weakly smiled. "All sorts of projects."

Shaking his head, Madrox pulled out his gun and pointed it right at Raynor's hand. "One more smartass comment and I start playing little piggy. Got it?"

"Adel was our AIM liason."

**=X=**

"There is something else I wanted to ask you," Selene said as she stroked Abyss's hand.

They were walking across the water together enjoying the view around them. Unlike many of her contemporaries, Selene had no desire to destroy things like this. She loved beauty and all the majesty and debauchery that came along with it. That feeling is what drove her to love the cities of the world so much. They were filled with such beauty in all its purest and darkest forms. It was like watching living artwork for Selene and it sated the boredom that immortality sometimes inflicted.

A tinge of hesitation was in Abyss's voice as he said, "What is it?"

He didn't like still feeling this way around Selene, but her history spoke for itself. The woman had been a murderer for centuries and as much as he enjoyed being in her company it was hard for him to forget that fact. But she treated him better than anyone had in a very long time and he couldn't forget that either. The contradiction was beginning to tear Nils' mind apart and he didn't even dare to bring it to Selene's attention. She'd probably make him her next meal.

They stopped walking and she looked into his eyes with a longing Abyss thought you only saw on cheesy TV movies. "I enjoy the time we spend together Abyss and I want more of it, but our circumstances prevent us from doing so."

"And I hate that, but what can we do about?"

Selene smiled and for once Abyss didn't feel a shiver. "I have a spell in mind that will slow down time around us and allow us to spend a fair amount of time together. Would you be willing to try it?"

Part of Abyss was screaming no, but a larger part of him couldn't find the harm in it. Maybe a few days alone with Selene was what he needed to understand the complex creature. In time, he always figured he would find a way to reconcile Selene's actions towards others with her actions towards him. A few days of alone time could solve that problem. "I'm in. What do I need to do?"

"Just take my hands and close your eyes. This may sting just a bit," Selene said as she began the necessary chants.

_He is mine and he will come to love me._

**=X=**

The wall gave way under M's fist and a large cloud of cement dust followed. Monet stepped over the sections of the wall she had destroyed and did her best not to scream at the alarms going off around her. The super senses she possessed made hearing such alarms painful to the point of nausea, but she wasn't going to let that happen. Her suit was not going to carry the stain of vomit for the remainder of her time with X-Force. It was a fashion no-no on the level of Kathy Griffin.

"Nice work," Havok said as he stepped over the rubble. He looked around and saw nothing resembling any sort of high-tech equipment. It was barren to the point of being suspicious. "Just like the schematics said. They swept the first floor of all technology and moved everything to the lower levels."

"The little rats did not want anyone snooping around," M said as she tried to scan for any minds nearby. "We have five armed AIM troopers coming our way."

Alex snickered as his right hand powered up. "One good sweep should take care of them. Please don't tell me they're that lacking in security?"

M put her hand to her temple for a moment and said, "Some of them are equipped with psi-blockers so they're obviously trying to hide something. Instead of your bust it up mission how about we try to find out what it is?"

Havok shrugged. "Works for me. In our line of work, information can go a long way. Figured you would have wanted to break some more stuff up to let off some steam."

She turned her nose up at Alex. "Steam about what?"

Alex gave a coy grin. "Nevermind. Forget I said anything."

Before she could press him any further, the five AIM troopers came around the corner. They were decked out in red and black fatigues that went along with a matching red helmet. It looked like it came right out of Killzone. In each of their hands was a long rifle that ended in a green diamond tip. They moved in a triangular formation at the two and the trooper making up the point said, "Get down on the floor now!"

Tremendously annoyed, M waved a dismissive hand at the men. "Please."

They all froze and dropped their guns. Havok shook his head. "I thought you we were actually going to have a bit of fun with them."

M walked over and picked up one of the rifles they dropped. "I didn't feel like playing with these. They can punch a nice clean hole through even someone like me. It was better we didn't tussle with them."

Alex stood next to Monet and picked up another gun. He slung it across his chest and said, "Hell, if it can do all that we're taking one with us. I'll let 'Star reverse engineer this for our team's use."

"Fine. Can we just move?" M asked as she began to walk briskly to the nearest staircase.

Alex grabbed her by the shoulder. "What's really bugging you M? You felt something else didn't you? That's why you want us to check this place out isn't it?"

M sighed. "Yes, there is some sort of dormant psychic consciousness in here. It's incredibly powerful. I'd say right up there with Xavier and Grey if not above them. The thought of those idiots with something that powerful should scare you."

Havok knew she was only saying that because she was scared. "It does. So we'll find out who or what it is and put a stop to it. Let's go."

"Seems like you may have needed to bring more than two of us along after all," M said as she opened up the door to the staircase. Taking any sort of elevator would have been pure stupidity. There was no telling what sort of security system these nerds had cooked up and M wasn't about to be a guinea pig. "I can't spend all my time protecting you."

Alex laughed. The arrogance of M knew no end. "Well lead the way. I'll make sure us weak folks cover your rear."

"My rear needs no more covering than your abs need another sit-up."

"Glad you noticed," Havok said as he patted his stomach. "I been trying to keep them to standard."

M smiled. It was half sexy and half condescending. "I wish Cormic would try some of your techniques. He's nearly on the edge of pudge."

Havok knew that was the furthest thing from the truth, but someone who thought they were perfect would always find flaws in everyone else around them. Even in the person they were screwing. He hoped Cormic knew how much bullshit he was getting himself into by fooling with St. Croix. The woman was a car named Crazy and Pipeline was behind the wheels for now.

"I'll pass some ideas along," Havok said as they began to move methodically down the stairs. "Just let me know if you sense anyone."

"Ah yes. Your blasts in this narrow stairway would be an excellent maneuver," M said as she rolled her eyes. "I hope my sarcasm is projecting."

"You have no idea. But I'm far more than my blasts Miss St. Croix. So just tell me if we got a blip and I'll make sure to shut it up."

"As if I need it," M said. She knew that she had more than enough power to handle whatever threat AIM decided to send her way. At least that's what she wanted Alex to think, but this psychic mind she felt was powerful. Perhaps too powerful.

**=X=**

Madrox swung the gun back and forth in front of Raynor's face. "Why would GenTech need an AIM liaison? And why Adel?"

"We have a number of buyers and not all of them are who you would call legit. AIM was interested in some of our work. Particularly, work I was the project manager for. They sent Adel as a mediator of sorts, but I couldn't tell you why."

Jamie could tell that Shatterstar's sedative was beginning to wear off. Raynor was starting to be more lucid. "So what was the project that AIM was so interested in?"

Raynor was hesitant to answer so Marrow said, "If you don't talk I'll use my telepathy to dig into your head to get the answers I need."

Madrox tried to keep the shock off of his face and then he had to fight to keep off a smirk. "She's pretty nasty with that too man. So I would suggest you don't BS us."

"We were working on a new kind of nerve toxin. One that could attack on the genetic level. Essentially it would target mutants and degrade their DNA. Quite the experiment. Odorless and colorless so it would be completely undetectable."

Madrox felt the urge to pistol whip the guy, but held back. "Does Adel have it?"

A long gulp traveled down Raynor's throat before he answered. "We delivered it to him three hours ago."

Shatterstar was beyond furious because while he may not have been a mutant every last person he cared about was. "How much?"

Raynor felt the man's fury and trembled under it, but he didn't have any choice but to tell the truth. "Enough to blanket London."

**NEXT ISSUE: What does X-Force intend to do with Raynor's information? And who comes to the guy's rescue? M and Havok find someone with a strong connection to Xavier in AIM's labs. Who is it and what does Havok intend to do about it? **


	15. Chapter 15

**X-FORCE #15**

AIM It Right PT. 3

Previously: Havok has discerned two new clients that Adel has connections to. GenTech and AIM. Emma ordered him to pick one or the other and not try to tackle both, but Havok refused to listen. He divided the team up to tackle both threats. Madrox and his team captured and started to interrogate a GenTech executive while Havok and M infiltrated an AIM base in Libya. M has sensed some massive physic power in the base and can't figure out who it is.

The long narrow stairway gave Havok and M no resistance. Alex had honestly expected the place to be swarming with something nasty to keep them from getting to the bottom. So that only meant one thing. Whoever was in charge of this little establishment wanted them to get to the bottom floor. M didn't seem the least bit worried, but Havok was more than capable of smelling her bullshit a mile away. She liked to hide any and all vulnerable emotions from everyone around her, but Alex heard the slight tremor in her voice when she talked about the physic presence she felt. He just hoped that she was capable of defending herself and him against it. Xavier's defensive techniques only went so far.

"They're not attacking us. So I guess we have a welcoming party waiting," Havok said as they neared the stairway's last flight of stairs. He wasn't too particularly worried about what was waiting for him because this was AIM after all, but more surprising things had happened to him.

When they were three stairs from the last one, holes opened up along the walls surrounding them and red tentacles rushed out at the two mutants. M frowned at Havok as one latched around her wrist. "You could learn to keep your mouth shut. The universe seems to have it out for you."

Havok dodged one tentacle as it zipped past his head, but failed to avoid the one that wrapped around his ankle. "Don't I know it."

Thrown from his feet, Havok's head hit the stair hard, but despite the stars swimming in his vision he did his best to remain lucid. Lifting him up into the air, Havok was spun around and flung upside down against the wall. His back cracked against it, but he still kept his composure. A tiny beam of cosmic radiation tore out of his eye and ripped the tentacle holding him apart. He started to fall to the ground when two more tentacles grabbed his ankles and one wrapped around his neck.

M screamed as she broke free of the tendrils entrapping her. "Enough!"

She ripped the metallic limbs out of the wall one by one including those that had Havok. He fell awkwardly on his shoulder. Looking up he said, "You couldn't have done that from the start?"

M sneered at him and flew right at the entrance to the laboratory. It was at least seven feet thick, but she tore right through it with Havok barely keeping up behind her. The numerous scientists in the room scattered at the sight of the two mutants. Havok shot a thin beam into the shoulder of one. It burned right through flesh and bone causing her to fall to the ground in agony. He repeated the process with other scientists, but in different parts of the body. He hit one in the knee and another one in the elbow.

M paid no attention to Havok. She simply wanted to locate the source of the psionic power she had felt. Even now, she could feel its tremendous power. She flew further into the facility, leaving Havok behind.

"M wait!" Havok cursed knowing that she was ignoring him. He walked over to one of the injured scientists and lifted him up by the collar of his shirt. "Listen very carefully if you want to have a head by the end of this conversation. Nod if that sounds like a good idea to you."

The pudgy man nodded vigorously. Havok smiled. "Good. Now what are you working on in here? And be precise."

The AIM scientist followed Havok's orders to a T. He told him who was at the center of this operation and exactly what they were doing to him. When he was done, Havok dropped him to the ground and said, "Don't move. We have some more to talk about."

Havok took off down the same murky hallway that M had internally letting loose a long string of cuss words as he went. He knew exactly what presence M had felt and knew just how much danger she was in, especially given how much Monet was taken to arrogance. Thankfully, the hallway wasn't long and he spotted M at the end of it.

"M! What the hell was that?" Havok said when he entered the large, circular room. Monet was staring upwards at the body floating in a large glass canister hooked up with numerous wires.

"That's him. That's who I felt."

"He's Xavier's son," Havok said prompting an aghast look from Monet. "We all thought he was dead. AIM seemed to have other ideas."

"We have to free him," M said resolutely.

Havok nodded and looked around at the computer consoles in the room. He pointed at one on the far right. "That one's open."

Alex walked over to the computer and sat down. It wasn't long before he said, "Jackpot!"

M quickly flew to him. "What is it?"

"Whatever idiot was sitting here left his computer plugged into AIM's entire network. Names, locations. It's all here," Havok said as he scrolled through names and pictures of high-ranking AIM operatives.

"We don't have time. We need to free him."

"I'm not passing up on this," Havok said as he looked back at Legion. "And I think he can help us."

M heard one word flash through Havok's mind and recoiled from him. "You're crazy! He's not that!"

"You think he wouldn't want his revenge after what these people did to him? Wouldn't you?"

Monet thought about it for a moment and remembered the seething hate that she held for Emplate. He had trapped her in the form of Penance and treated her like a piece of cattle that he would milk whenever he was hungry. Yes, she could imagine that Legion would want revenge. But she wasn't going to force it on him.

"We let him out and go from there. He's Xavier's son. I'm sure he's smart enough to figure out what he wants to do."

Havok shook his head. "No, we have to be the ones to do this."

"You mean I have to."

"Legion doesn't deserve a lot of sympathy and neither does AIM. They've both hurt their fair share of people. I don't see a problem turning them on each other."

Alex could see that he wasn't getting through to her. "This all goes back to Adel. I think if we rattle AIM then we can scare him out and find out what he has going on with your brother."

"I'm not stupid Havok. I know what you're doing. My brain is as enhanced as my strength."

"Then think a little harder and you'll know I'm right. I never thought M would let something as trivial as guilt get in her way."

M clinched hr fists and looked at the ground. "How do you want me to do this?"

Alex got up from his chair at the computer console. "Just feed the images into his head and make sure he knows to terminate all of his targets."

M sat down as she made a psychic link with the unconscious Legion. "Any particular order?"

"No. Jut eliminate as many as possible as fast as possible. No telepathic kills though. I want these strikes to be visible."

Monet nodded as she felt her stomach churn. "Any other special requests?"

Havok smiled. "Just make sure he enjoys it."

**=X=**

**London**

Madrox, Marrow, and Shatterstar had just learned from Matthew Raynor, a high ranking executive at GenTech, that a mutant specific nerve toxin had been delivered to AIM. They had enough toxin on hand to envelop the entire city of London. The idea of such a weapon being in the hands of radicals like AIM did not spell any good for any mutant. Marrow grabbed Raynor by the collar of his shirt and shook him. "Who did you deliver it to? Give me a name!"

Raynor laughed. "Do you really think I would know that? I left that to someone under me to handle. I have more on my plate than you might think."

Shatterstar pressed his sword against the man's neck. "Can I gut him yet?"

Madrox smiled at 'Star and said, "In a minute if he doesn't start giving me some answers I like. Do you know where AIM is taking the toxin?"

"Uganda to the last of my knowledge. Part of their campaign to pass an automatic death sentence for people who are X-Gene positive."

"Guess we'll be taking another Africa trip," Madrox said as he pushed himself away from Raynor.

The windows of the abandoned room suddenly exploded and black clad men poured in from each one. They were decked from head to toe in black body suits with silver belts and red goggles. The members of X-Force wasted no time in responding to the dozen men that had entered into the room. Marrow jammed a bone dagger into one of the men's necks and flipped him over, twisting the dagger as he landed. An electrical blast hit her in the back and caused her to collapse atop the man she had just killed.

Shatterstar's sword cut off the head of the man that had attacked Marrow. With his free hand, the warrior grabbed the arm of another black-clad man and flipped him over his shoulder. The intruder crashed into the rickety tile of the floor and cracked it into a dozen pieces. Shatterstar stomped one time on the chest of the intruder and knocked him out cold. He looked to where Raynor had been tied down and saw that the man was now hefted on the shoulder of another one of the men.

"Madrox! Stop him!" Shatterstar said.

Jamie was about to slap his hands together when his arms were flung outward and he went flying through the air until he slammed against the wall. His shoulder smashed against a nail and he cried out as the metal tore through flesh. Gritting his teeth, Jamie said, "Shit!"

The now freed Raynor wagged a finger at Madrox. "Singularity always gets the job done."

One of the black clad men put a hand over Raynor's mouth and in the next moment they were all gone with a flash of jagged, black light.

Shatterstar ran over to Marrow and put a finger to her neck to check for a pulse. He looked up to a pained Madrox and said, "She's breathing. Are you ok?"

Jamie gently put a finger to the blood slowly pooling through the back of his shirt. He winced and said, "I'll live. Doc probably gonna have to give me a tetanus shot. No telling what's been crawling around in here."

Shatterstar scooped up Marrow in his arms and looked at the two dead bodies. "Should we take them with us?"

Madrox shrugged. "As anally detailed as Havok is, we probably should. He's not going to be happy we lost Raynor. Might as well give him a consolation prize."

The only problem was getting the bodies out of the abandoned building without anyone seeing them. It was going to be a task easier said than done, but they were starting to get good at doing things they had no business trying. Madrox looked at the duffle bag they had brought with them in the corner of the room. "Forget taking the whole bodies. We'll strip them down and stuff that head in the bag. Make due with whatever we can get off that."

Shatterstar nodded and sat Marrow back down. He knew it was going to be his job to handle the gory parts of the operation. He'd just let Jamie hold the bag after he was done. "I hope Alex is having better luck with his mission."

"He's got M with him. I doubt it."

**=X=**

**Muir Island**

Blind Faith and Dr. Reyes stood nervously outside of the cell holding Daggoo. Muir Island had a number of patient isolation rooms that Havok had Shatterstar retrofit into prison cells. They could hold the Juggernaut for a week if they had to so Havok was confident that Daggoo wasn't going anywhere, but as an added precaution he had a Genoshan negator collar put on him to take away his powers. It still wasn't of any great comfort to Cecelia.

"I don't know why the hell Havok wants us to do this. Couldn't we just wait until he gets back?"

"No. It would be best if we took care of this before he returns. You aren't scared are you doctor?"

Cecelia looked at the man as if he had taken a long smoke from a hookah pipe. "Hell yea I'm scared. Have you taken a good look at this guy? He survived getting smacked with a car."

"Most of his powers have been taken away by the collar and the restraints keep those blades of his in check. We'll be fine Cecelia," Blind Faith said as he pressed the red button above the door handle to activate the speaker into the cell. Before he began talking, he pulled his finger back. "Besides, we'll never even have to step foot into the room."

Cecelia groaned. "Fine. Let's just hurry up with this."

Alexi nodded and pressed the red button. It would be the first Daggoo had been spoken to by anyone since his arrival on Muir Island. "Daggoo. Do you hear me?"

There were a few dreadful minutes of silence before Blind Faith received a response. "I'm here. What the hell you want?"

"We need to ask you some questions."

"So don't give us a hard time and we won't give you one," Cecelia added.

A deep, mocking laugh penetrated through the speaker. "Go ahead then. I was starting to enjoy the peace and quiet. Kind of want to get back to it."

"Why were you in Mogadishu with Ahab?"

"To tear you bastards apart."

Cecelia rolled her eyes. "That's obvious shit for brains. Who sent you there?"

"Boss ain't known for running his mouth about who he talks to. All us boys knew was that we were supposed to mop the deck with yall."

Blind Faith felt like he wasn't getting anywhere, but he was going to leave until he had something that he could give Havok. "Where can we find Ahab?"

Cecelia was no psychiatrist, but she was sure that Blind Faith's line of questioning wasn't going to get him anywhere with Daggoo. The guy could take some punishment and he was probably extremely loyal to Ahab so direct questioning wouldn't yield much in the way of concrete answers. She wanted to jump in and take over this little interrogation, but she figured the less Daggoo heard of her voice the better.

"You don't wanna find him. Trust me. He'll kick your asses back to whatever pansy lil mommas yall have."

Blind Faith let go of the red speaker button and began to walk away. "Let's go."

"That's it. We didn't learn anything," Cecelia said as she caught up to Alexi.

The Russian priest tapped the side of his head. "I had been scanning for surface thoughts the whole time I was talking to him."

"And?"

"And when I asked him about where I could find Ahab a name came fluttered to the surface."

"I have a feeling that I'm supposed to know this name given the dramatic pause," Cecelia said.

They turned a corner and started walking up a flight of stairs. "You should know at least part of it. Christian Frost."

**=X=**

**Frost Genetics**

**Switzerland HQ**

Christian sat patiently behind his desk and swirled the wine glass he had in his hand with the trained skill of an aristocrat. Despite their often cruel nature, the Frost family had come from money and knew well the trappings of etiquette and good social behavior. He often wished that had applied to his family's morality, but people had to play the hand they were dealt.

The door to his office creaked open ever so slightly and in stepped an old man that was wearing a head to toe silver suit. His long white hair and beard added years to his clothing, but there was nothing geriatric about the man's eyes. They were dangerous and let anyone who stared at them too long know that he wasn't to be played with.

"Good evening Christian. I hope I did not keep you waiting for too long."

"Not at all Damien. I had paper work to take care of. So I assume that Raynor has been taken out of harm's way."

The old man took a seat in front of Christian's black marble desk and gave a long, thoughtful nod. "Yes, and thankfully he wasn't too banged up. He'll give us what we want."

"Good. AIM having that nerve gas is just too dangerous. Better that The Coven be in control of it. I doubt we could have done it without you," Christian said as he held up the wine glass hidden in a drawer in his desk for Damien to see. "Would you like some?"

"No thank you. I stopped drinking twenty years ago."

Christian still found it strange talking to this man. He was a duplicate of the present day Damien Tryp. In reality he was only a few weeks old, but in his mind and biologically he was nearly 80. Damien's mutant ability allowed him to create duplicates of himself along his own personal timeline. This elderly man was one such duplicate. The others were a version of Damien that was in his twenties and another that was only nine. The real Damien Tryp was at a nice round age of forty. The Tryp that was in front of him was nearly forty years the senior of the present day one and thus had forty years worth of knowledge about the future. Knowledge that was allowing Eliphas and The Coven to make their moves far more successfully.

Putting away the bottle of wine, Christian said, "May I ask what would have happened if we had not rescued Raynor?"

The elderly Tryp took another long, laborious breath. "Hard to say precisely given how many things we have already changed, but in my time AIM used that toxin in Paris. Wiped out every mutant in the city. The Brotherhood retaliated with attacks across the globe and the causalities were quite high."

Christian put a hand to his forehead. "My God I'm getting quite sick of hearing about death."

"I always knew that The Coven wasn't the place for you."

Frost wasn't too sure how to interpret that comment. "I am committed to what we're doing here."

Tryp gave a laugh that was halfway a cough. "Don't think I am accusing you of treachery. I know better than that. You followed Eliphas' plan all the way to the end. But you would rather have a different path to travel. This much I know."

"I just don't like the idea of having to go head to head with my sister."

"Sisters," Tryp corrected.

"Excuse me?"

"Sisters," Tryp said. "Adrienne and Cordelia will eventually factor into this equation as well. Though I don't think you'll have a problem with those two."

The memories of what Adrienne had done to him were quite raw. He nearly crushed his wine glass in his hand. "No I can't say I won't."

**=X=**

**Muir Island **

**The Next Day**

Havok stood in front of the monitor where Wolverine was displayed. "We lost Raynor, but we're digging for clues as to who rescued him. Something to do with Singularity. The mission in Libya was a bust. Nothing of anything real value there."

"Too bad," Logan said as he puffed on a cigar. "Could have used M in London. Probably would have kept those goons from nabbing Raynor. You know Emma is going to be pissed you didn't listen to her."

"Yea I know. But I had to go with my gut here Logan."

"I hear you Alex, but just don't push her too far. Because if she starts pushing back I don't think you're going to have any operational freedom."

Alex knew that and that's why he was lying to Logan about Libya. He couldn't tell him about Legion or about the information he had pulled off of that AIM computer. It was much needed leverage for Havok in the event things did go south with his connects at Xavier's. He had no intention of having this operation being relinquished from him so he had to make sure the deck was stacked in his favor. If he could make enough allies, it wouldn't matter a wit if Xavier's cut him off. He hated it, but it had to be done.

"Emma's got other problems to worry about besides me. Like her older brother."

Logan puffed smoke into the air. "Care to enlighten me."

"We interrogated the guy we captured from Ahab's crew. He's connected to Christian Frost somehow."

Wolverine grunted. "Don't make a move on that front yet. Let me talk to Emma first. Got it?"

"Crystal clear. We have too many other issues right now to worry about to go chasing after her family."

"And I'll get word to XSE, SHIELD and whoever else I have to about this toxin. I want you to stay on top of finding Adel. I got a sneaking suspicion he's at the center of a very large web. We get him we'll get some answers."

Havok was glad at least one out of his two "commanders" agreed with him. "That's what I was trying to get across to Emma, but she's so stuck on Dark Beast."

"Can't say I blame her. She's got it out for him like I do with Victor. Sometimes you just gotta settle old scores."

Alex could care less about anyone's old scores. He was trying to make X-Force a true force for change and he couldn't do that if he wasn't going to be allowed to take the organization into the direction he wanted. Still, Logan had been supportive thus far and he wasn't the person to vent to. "We'll take him down in due time. I just need you and her to trust that I can get it done my way."

"I do kid. Speaking of, what about Selene? Heard she kidnapped one of your guys."

"And brought him back. I'm honestly not sure what's going on there, but I think it might be best to leave Selene alone at the moment."

"Something you not telling me Alex?" Logan said a bit more fatherly than he normally was. At least to the guys.

"Crazy as it sounds Logan, I think she has a crush on Abyss."

**=X=**

**Another realm**

Selene held Abyss' hand as they walked through the immense garden. The vines and flowers reached up at least a hundred feet into the air and the large corridor they were walking down had enough room to comfortably fit a parade of elephants. But it was just the two of them enwrapped in the garden's misty air. Nils was taken aback by the beauty of the place. The idea of someone like Selene always showing him such grandeur was starting to lose its irony. Maybe there was a side to the woman that no one really got a chance to see.

"I know this isn't exactly what you were expecting Abyss."

"Not really. I thought we were going to be together a couple of days. It's been three months. Just how long is this spell of yours?"

Abyss had been asking Selene that question consistently since they had entered into this imaginary realm of their own making. She had been avoiding to the best of her ability, but you could only woo someone so many times with your body before its effect started to wane. It probably would have stopped being an effective tactic much sooner if Abyss had not been a fresh virgin. She couldn't avoid his anger forever though and she knew it.

"Abyss you have to understand that I did what I did because I wanted us to be together in a full, strong relationship."

"How long Selene?"

"A century," Selene said as Abyss instantly recoiled from her. "That's only for us! The time in the real world will only seem like a few minutes."

Abyss shook his head like he had just been whopped by a brick. "You should have told me! A century! That's a hundred years!"

"For us," Selene said as she took Abyss' hands in hers. "You won't miss a thing going on in your life before this. How many times do I have to explain that?"

Abyss looked around at the garden and suddenly felt very lonely. Selene had deceived him and he had no way out of it, but looking into those pleading eyes he wondered if he really wanted out of it? Sure, the initial shock of being stuck for one hundred years in a fantasy world was still there, but no one had ever went to such lengths just to spend time with him. There was a big part of him that was flattered now that the futility of his situation was starting to settle in. Selene wanted him in a way he had never been wanted before. A former slave like him never imagined something as crazy as affection could ever be in his world.

"Ok Selene. We'll do this your way," Abyss said as he was suddenly embraced by the woman. Her black cloak wrapped around them as a gentle breeze rushed through the garden. Abyss smiled as he figured that Selene had orchestrated that. "But we're going to have to add some people to this place or I'm going to go insane."

"Done."

**=X=**

**Xavier Institute**

Wolverine walked into Emma's office while she was on the phone. He didn't wait for her to finish the conversation. "We need to talk."

Emma held up a finger for patience. "Ok Bobby. Try to make some kind of headway if you can. I know Lorna is a stubborn one."

Hanging up the phone, Emma said, "I see tact is still outside your realm of character traits."

"I just got done talking to our boy Alex and he's found out some information you might find important. Your brother has something to do with Ahab."

Frost could have screamed. She was hoping to keep her brother's activities secret for as long as she could. At least until she had a chance to personally confront her brother, but it seemed Havok was going to leave no stone unturned. It was part of the reason she picked him to lead X-Force, but now she wished he wasn't so efficient. She stared at her desk for a moment thinking on what to tell Logan, but it seemed the truth was the only way to go.

"I already know that. I received a visit from G.W. Bridge about my brother," she said. "He warned me that my brother was connected to some unsavory characters. Ahab being amongst them."

"Chuck know?" Wolverine said as he looked at the chair against Emma's wall for a moment as he contemplated sitting down. He decided against it.

"Not yet. I wanted to try and handle Christian on my own."

"Like you did with Adrienne."

Emma cut her eyes at Logan like a lioness about to pounce. She was sure that Jubilee had related the sordid tale of her sister to the veteran X-Man. "Don't bring her up. She's dead and I'd like for her to stay that way."

**=X=**

**Unknown Location**

Adrienne Frost smiled at the assembled group in front of her. The air was ripe for murder. "It's time for us to get things into high gear ladies and gentlemen."

Fatale was at the forefront of the group. "As long as I still get to do what I want with Alex then we're ready."

Adrienne laughed. "The Director has no plans for Havok. Do what you want with him. You know the main objectives."

Scalphunter looked at himself in one of his knives as he held it up against the moonlight. "We're going to get to gut us some X-Men. That's the only objective I need."

**NEXT ISSUE: Enter Weapon X**

**Appearances**

**Havok**

**M**

**Marrow**

**Madrox**

**Shatterstar**

**Damien Tryp**

**Christian Frost**

**Emma Frost**

**Adrienne Frost**

**Wolverine**

**Abyss**

**Selene**

**Fatale**

**Scalphunter**

**Legion**

**Blind Faith**

**Cecelia Reyes**


	16. Chapter 16

**X-Force #16**

"**Daycare's In" Pt. 1**

Selene stood quietly on the grassy knoll and looked down at the last resting place of her lover, father of her children. No one would understand it, but she had spent a century loving this man. As much as she had hoped to change him, it was him who had changed her. Full of grief, she hugged his tombstone. "Oh Abyss. I could have fallen into you forever."

"I knew you would come."

Selene maintained her hug. "Are you going to call your friends now doctor?"

Cecelia shook her head. "No."

"Why not?"

"Because he told me."

Selene's eyes widened. "I had honestly thought he would have told Marrow of Jamie first. He was always fond of them."

"You can know someone a lifetime and they'll still surprise you," Cecelia said forcing a little smirk. "I tried everything I could to save him."

"I know you did and I thank you for it," Selene said, standing to her feet. "But nothing you did could have saved him. My husband was murdered by magic."

"No offense, but we're sure Omega Red did it."

"There has to be more to it. The taint of magic is all around him. My best guess is that it was a binding spell."

Cecelia's grandmother was into magic and always was spinning a tale for her and her siblings. She had mentioned binding someone on a few occasions. A light went off in her head. "Could you bind someone from using their powers?"

Selene eyed her suspiciously and thought about it for a moment. "It is possible. Why?"

"Pipeline said he wondered why Abyss wouldn't use his powers when fighting Omega Red. If he had then he might have actually survived."

Selene turned her head to the side and a tear trickled out of her eye. "That bastard. He did this."

"Who? We can help you."

"No! This is for me to resolve."

Cecelia grabbed Selene's arm. "He was our friend! We deserve to know. Give us that much."

"Eliphas. His agents tried to kidnap me shortly after I felt Abyss' death. I had my suspicions the two were connected. His jealously knows no limits."

"Don't do this alone," Cecelia pleaded.

"I warned Havok about Eliphas and his inaction has caused Abyss' death. I don't want his help. Not yet."

**=X=**

Alex sat up in his bed and steadied his mind for the incoming psi-conference he was about to have with Emma and Logan. This was going to be his first time reporting to them since before the Weapon X attack in Chad. Cormic had laid out the gristly details to Logan so they already knew about Abyss and Marrow. He got sick thinking about what Marrow might be going through, but his injury made vomiting particularly painful so he tried not to.

Feeling a warm tingle in the back of his head, Alex knew his thoughts were in the company of Emma and Logan. He had to get one question out of the way. How bad was everyone else hit?

Logan responded. It wasn't pretty. Angelica's dead. The Mansion and Academy took a lot of damage. Even Genosha got hit.

Yea I saw Pietro's pretty new eye patch. If you all had told me about Weapon X then I could have prepared for it. Abyss might be—

Emma cut him off. Don't put this on us. You jumped the gun running after information you couldn't verify. If you had focused on The Butcher like I said you would have found The Weapon X connection on your own.

What ifs won't get us anywhere Logan interjected. What we need to focus on is filling in the gaps and getting this team back on its feet.

Already have a candidate I'm approaching. Alex said.

Alex, you should have run this by us. Emma and me need to know who's going to be part of this operation.

Your lack of obedience is amazing. We installed you as leader of this team to—

To lead Emma and I can't do that constantly looking to the two of you. I know what's at stake here and I'm willing to do what has to be done. So let me do it dammit!

I can't begrudge you that bub, but you gotta keep us in the loop. You can't run off with your own list of priorities and targets.

Logan, I'm this close to Adel. I can feel it.

We talked about that Emma said. You can finish this beef with Adel, but the minute after The Dark Beast is your number one priority. Is that clear?

Crystal. Anything else we need to discuss?

Yes. Logan and I had our own replacements in mind as well. They'll be on Muir Island in an hour.

What? You didn't tell me about this—

Welcome to our world. Emma said ending the psi-web.

**=X=**

Pipeline knocked twice on the apartment door and stepped back from it with one hand on his energy rifle. The place looked innocent enough, but Cormic knew that had to be a layer of deception if Alex intended on snagging a new team member from here. Admittedly, the Genoshan wasn't fond of replacing Abyss, not when he felt all their energy needed to be spent on finding Marrow. Orders were orders though and he had followed worse ones while part of The Press Gang. Still, there was a large part of him that felt like they were abandoning Marrow.

The door creaked open and a burly, bearded Hispanic man opened the door. He was shirtless, covered with tattoos, and his jeans were unzipped. A half finished bottle of beer was in his hand. He burped before saying, "Yea. Whaddya want?"

"Amos Carlyle?" Pipeline asked.

"Who wants to know?" the man said as he took a swig of the yellow poison.

"Mr. Winters sent me," Pipeline said. He thought Havok's codename was corny, but it worked for seemingly innocent conversations.

Opening the door all the way, the man waved for Pipeline to come into the dingy apartment. "Bout time you got here."

Cormic walked in and instantly smelt cigarettes and moldy carpet. He sat down in the recliner closest to the door while Amos took a seat right in front of his six pack of beer. Cormic was really starting to wish that Havok had given him some of the details about this man he was about to recruit into X-Force. He certainly didn't look like he had any covert op credentials, but neither did a lot of the X-Force members when this operation first began. Sometimes Cormic thought that was what got Abyss killed.

Clamping his hands together, Pipeline leaned forward and said, "So Amos I assume you know why I'm here."

"You want me to join your little crew. Mutants making sure mutants are safe. Just a little bit nastier than normal," Amos said as he lit a cigarette.

"Yes—

Cormic stopped talking when a young woman walked into the living room. She was wearing a red and black flannel that was completely unbuttoned exposing her black bra. Her hair was a dusty brown and it looked like she hadn't combed it in days. There was a haze in her delicate green eyes as she said, "Baby. Who's that?"

"Someone that's going to help us Kim," Amos said as he looked at Cormic. "Ain't that right?"

Pipeline nodded slowly. "Sounds about right."

Kim smiled, lost in her high. "Good shit. I'm gonna go lay down. Nice meeting ya."

Waiting till she was out of sight, Amos said, "That's my Kim. She's a good person. Just been through some shit lately."

"And just how are we going to help with that?"

Pipeline watched in shock as the burly form of Amos turned into a busty, bleached-skinned woman with red eyes and appearance more akin to a feline than any male. "Because Havok wants me for my abilities, but he's going to have to pay for them."

Trying to keep the shock off of his face, Pipeline said, "What are we talking about here?"

"I said my girl was in a bad spot. It's because her son was kidnapped by a mutant kid snatcher named Nanny. I don't have the resources to find her and even if I did I don't have the power to take her on alone. Help me make that woman whole again and you have me mind, body, and soul."

"Done."

Copycat turned back into Amos. "Just that easy?"

"Havok told me to agree to whatever terms you had. Barring the impossible of course."

Then there was an awkward silence between the two that hung thick in the air for a few minutes. Both stared at each other knowing the obvious evolution of their conversation. The question burned in Pipeline's mind until he wasn't able to contain it anymore. He knew if he didn't ask it was just going to make working with the woman weird.

"So does Kim—

"Yes she does and she's cool with it."

Pipeline breathed a sigh of relief. "Ok…whew! Didn't want to have to sit on that one."

Copycat shook her/his head. "I'll pack my stuff and we can get out of here."

**=X=**

**Libya**

Gregory Rhineheart looked at the damaged glass tank that had been holding the mutant known as Legion and shook his head with disgust. He had been the Assistant Director for AIM North African Operations for two years and never felt his voice was heard by his superior, Amelia Heinle. She was standing next to him and evaluating the damage, but from a different viewpoint. There was no apparent disgust in her visage. Just a cold, calculating eye that was evaluating the most miniscule of details about the damage caused.

"We should have placed him in a more secure facility," Amelia said. "He always had too much power to be held in a medium ranged facility."

Gregory held back his anger. He had said that when the Legion project was initially put in their hands, but Amelia had argued that the compensation needed to cover the security needed at a larger facility would have put them over budget. That woman would squeeze a dime out of a penny. "What are we going to do now that he is on the loose?"

"Knowing these mutant types he'll either run to the X-Men or Genosha?" Amelia said as he picked up a fried hard drive. "This going to cost us thousands of dollars. They might decide to just total this facility."

"Doesn't it worry you that he might go to the X-Men?" Gregory asked. He was a rotund man and if his anger could come off him in waves he'd be shaking like Jell-O after a Billy Cosby commercial. The incompetence and short-sightedness of his boss made him want to put one right in her dome.

Whether he would admit it to himself or not, Amelia was completely capable of kicking his ass from Libya back to her native country of Switzerland. She didn't get her position in AIM by being a pushover and was skilled in a number of martial arts that complimented her financial management skills. Unfortunately her skills were so fine tuned that she often couldn't see the forest for the trees.

"No. Why should that bother us? The financial investment in Legion is what concerns me."

Gregory made eye contact with one of the guards who had been sent with them and rolled his eyes. The two of them were friends and had often discussed the stupidity they saw in Director Heinle. It was about the only solace he had because all of his Managers were jackals looking to take his spot so there was no confiding in them. One of the little bastards was grinning at him because they knew exactly what was going through Gregory's head.

"Legion is Xavier's son. I doubt the X-Men will take too kindly to us experimenting on their founder's child."

"What about the child himself?"

None of the men in Amelia and Gregory's security detail had time to scream as their patented yellow helmets were telekinetically crushed around their heads. Amelia shrieked as blood squirted out from the bottoms of their helmets like a smashed ketchup pack. If Gregory had not been shaking before, he certainly was now.

"Who's there?" Amelia asked as she pulled out a rifle holstered at her hip. She frantically scanned the room for who had attacked the men so swiftly.

"Shut up!" Gregory hissed out of fear and frustration finally bubbling over. "Be quiet and let's get out of here."

"That won't be happening I'm afraid," a bald young man said as he seemingly appeared out of thin air in front of the two.

Only the most skilled and powerful of telekinetics were able to manipulate photons with the ease they controlled solid objects. The young man who bore an eerie resemblance to Charles Xavier was one such mutant. On Legion's face was an expression that his Father never could express. It was murder. Plain and simple.

Gregory knew exactly who he was looking at and like a frightened child pointed at Amelia. "She's responsible. I didn't sign off on anything! I was just doing my job."

Legion laughed at the cowardice. "Naughty boy. You shouldn't point fingers."

Amelia watched in frozen horror as Gregory's finger was ripped clean off his hand. Rhineheart fell to the ground screaming as he scrambled to grab the lost appendage. Biting her bottom lip, she let loose a full clip at Legion. The bullets sizzled through the air, but were stopped inches from Legion's face. He waved a hand in front of them and they all fell harmlessly to the floor.

Floating across the ground, Legion came within inches of Amelia and kissed her with false passion. "By George, do I love a woman with spunk! You have no idea how much that just turned me on."

"Get away from me!" Amelia said as she shoved the mutant away from her. Her legs were like lead and despite her every instinct telling her otherwise, she couldn't run.

"Fine, fine," Legion laughed. "I'll kill the fat one first."

**=X=**

**Some dark place in China**

"You understand your objective."

Sway bent down and slid her guns into the holsters at both of her ankles. She had no less than a dozen guns on her person and a few knives for good measure. "Of course. Retrieve the mutant and return her unarmed. How should I handle resistance?"

"Kill anyone who stands in your way. This child's identity cannot get out."

Sway nodded. "I was hoping you'd say that."

Havok

Emma Frost

Wolverine

Copycat

Pipeline

Cecelia Reyes

Selene

Sway

Legion


	17. Chapter 17

**X-Force Annual 2010**

**Enter Weapon X**

_Previously in X-Force: Emma and Logan have charged Alex Summer with leading a black ops team that would handle the threats to Xavier's newfound mutant/human peace. They first faced down the dual threats of Selene and Dark Beast over Phalanx samples which alerted them to a high level black market dealer named Eric Adel. They tracked one of Adel's connections, a new Genegineer, to Somalia where they encountered Ahab and his Pirate Crew. They had no success in finding Adel, but discovered Emplate had been there as well. X-Force dug further and found out Adel had dealings with AIM, which led to the discovery of a reborn Legion. All the while, Weapon X was waiting in the wings_…

**PART ONE: BETRAYAL AND SCHEMES**

Mikhail sat at a decaying brown table buried in a bunker right outside of Moscow. The little shanty room was one of many safe houses that Rasputin's mutant underground had dispersed throughout Russia. Originally, the underground engine was the handiwork of Blind Faith, but Mikhail had been passed the mantle. It wasn't easy work, but it helped Mikhail forget wrongs he had done.

Seated across from him was a shivering middle aged woman throwing back a bottle of vodka and she had another one on the table. Some called the drink Russia's water. Mikhail had lost is taste for it over the years. Besides, he didn't need the alcohol to create an illusion of warmth. His mutant powers allowed him to alter the air molecules around his body to create a temperature pleasing to him.

The one lamp in the room shook as a car rushed by overhead. Mikhail ignored the ordinary disturbance and said, "We should receive word soon on whether Abel got them to Ukraine."

"Them" were five mutant teenagers marked by the government for one of two things; recruitment or extermination. Mikhail didn't have time to figure out which it was. The files he had received from the KDF in exchange for neogenics technology only listed names, not the intention behind them.

Mikhail's lady friend stopped drinking and started carving into an apple. "You sound worried comrade."

"Not worried," Rasputin sighed. "I just think that we are going to need more help shuttling people out. Genosha may be an option."

"The land of stuck-up mutants eh? I would rather us ship our cargo to France," the woman said as she took another swig of her drink.

The door to the bunker swung open and a bald woman stepped in followed by a dangerously lively redhead. "France's countryside is actually quite lovely in the summer. You should make the time to visit."

Mikhail gulped at the sight of the two women. He had been dreading this moment for some time. Only a few days after foiling The Dark Beast's plan to steal Phalanx samples, Mikhail was astrally approached by Cassandra Nova. She had threatened to destroy the Russian Mutant Underground if he didn't give her the information she wanted about X-Force. He had wanted to tell Alex, but he knew this woman's type. She was dangerous and too deadly to not abide by. Mikhail hated what he was about to do.

He nodded at Cassandra and said, "What do you want Nova?"

Cassandra pulled off her red scarf and set it on the table. "I have come for my pound of flesh Mr. Rasputin. I want to know everything you know about X-Force. Down to the most minute detail."

**=X=**

**Muir Island**

**Dr. Reyes' Medical Office**

Cecelia picked up the book from her duffle bag and passed it to Abyss. "This one is called Green Eggs and Ham."

Nils took the thin book from the woman and his face contorted in a way no normal human's couldn't. "Seriously Doc? Has anyone actually even eaten green eggs?"

Cecelia worked to keep a smile off her face. "You said you wanted to learn how to read. Well, I'm no teacher, but I can't think of anything better to start off with than Dr. Seuss. It's how my Dad got me to start reading."

"And you were probably what? Five? I'm a grown man."

She pulled up a stool next to Abyss and said, "Well, it's not like we can start with Moby Dick."

"Can we not talk about anything Ahab related."

While in Somalia, the mutant had been injured by Ahab and was still sore from the attack. He didn't like being trounced and he felt embarrassed that he had been hurt. The only consolation in it was that Pipeline had been hurt along with him. It was just a fraction of the pain that The Magistrate actually deserved. There were a lot of people that would have liked to have been notified of Pipeline's injury. They probably would have celebrated it.

"You going to open the book or what Nils? This is normally my private time and I—

"Sorry Doc. Sorry. Just got a little distracted," Abyss said as he cracked open the book and tried to read the first page.

After a few long, frustrating minutes Abyss closed the book. "I just can't concentrate. You must think I'm tupid."

"No, I think you're brave. I have relatives who can barely talk, let alone read and they're twice your age," Dr. Reyes said as she took the book from Nils' hands. "The fact that you want to do this says more about than you'll ever know."

Abyss felt a swell of confidence about what he was doing, but he knew he wouldn't be able to continue unless he got recent events off his chest. He had wanted to tell someone before the New Mexico mission, but the time just never felt right. "There's something I gotta tell you Doc."

"What?"

"I'm married," Abyss said and with a cartoonish grin added, "With kids."

Cecelia quickly pulled away the cup of coffee she was about to take a sip of. She was glad Abyss hadn't waited a second longer. "Ok Nils you're going to have to give me a really good explanation."

"Selene and me have sort of been seeing each other. She cast a spell that took us into our own dream world where we stayed for a long time. A hundred years to us, but a few minutes to everyone else."

"So some sort of time compression?" Cecelia asked and Abyss nodded. He figured Doc knew what she was talking about. "I swear ever since Drake walked into my life it's been one crazy thing after another."

"I wasn't planning on it, but I love her Doc."

Cecelia wasn't going to pretend that she could wrap her head around it, but she saw Abyss' sincerity. "So a century huh? Why didn't she teach you to read?"

"Kind of never came up. We were sort of busy."

"You have just conjured images I rather not think about."

"Not like that Doc. We had a family. A big one."

"Ok so let me get this straight," Cece said taking a sip from her coffee. "You and her were alone in your own fantasy world with your kids."

"And grandkids and their kids. Things got crowded."

Dr. Reyes tried to imagine Selene as motherly. From everything she had heard about the woman it wasn't an easy visual. "So where are they now?"

"They who?"

"Your family. I know they just didn't go poof," Cecelia said immediately regretting the statement. It was very likely they could have disappeared once the spell was over with. She crossed her fingers that wasn't the case.

"They're with Selene. She's trying to figure out what to do with them."

"I'm kind of scared to ask how many are there. What are you going to do about Alex?"

Abyss shrugged. "I don't know. He's going to probably kick me off the team."

"Well, you can't keep this a secret. You love her then stand by it. I can tell you from experience that secrets like that just eat you alive."

"I know. It's just that I was finally starting to make friends—

"Who'll understand passion, love, and family are not things to be ashamed of," Cecelia said as she sat a hand atop Abyss' cold one. "I wouldn't mind a bit of that in my life. Medicine has been my only love for so long that…well this isn't about me. If Selene loves you then you love her. Case closed."

Abyss grinned and kissed Cecelia on the cheek. "Thanks Doc. I needed that. Knew there was a reason I missed you so much."

Holding up the Dr. Seuss book, Cece said, "Don't think I forgot. You still owe me some pages."

**=X=**

**Weapon X Compound**

**4 Days Ago**

Dikithi slithered across the cafeteria floor to Fatale's table. "Is this seat taken?"

All alone, Fatale motioned a hand to the chair and continued eating. Dikithi pushed the chair out of the way and coiled his lower body so his body was condensed to the level of the table. "So any pressing news?"

Across the room, Lady Deathstrike and Junta continued their flirty balancing act while Mr. X tried to impress by slicing and icing an apple into a hundred perfect little cubes Kimura was chatting with Dark Beast about his latest work as they walked out the cafeteria.

Sure that everyone was busy, Fatale leaned in and said "The big push is about to start."

Dikithi returned the discretion and whispered, "Against the X-Men?"

"Yes and it's going to happen very soon."

"You ready?"

Fatale smiled. "I'm always ready for a chance to gut Alex Summers."

**=X=**

**Muir Island**

Abyss felt relieved that someone finally knew about him and Selene. It had been a burden on him for too long and he felt disloyal to his family for not telling someone about the life he had led. For a hundred years it just been Selene, him and his family. No matter how much time had passed for everyone else, Abyss couldn't discount that experience. He was happy to be back amongst familiar faces and he didn't want to lose them, but he couldn't be that cold. Not to his family, especially when he had lost his own when he was forced to become a Mutate.

The thought of his family lingered in his mind as he was walking back to his room. As fate would have it, Pipeline had just walked out of his room and saw Nils. "Abyss! Abyss!"

Nils turned around and upon seeing who it was, rolled his eyes. He had no great love for Pipeline because of the man's role in supervising the Mutates of Genosha. His family connections had kept Pipeline from undergoing the Mutate process and being put in The Press Gang. He made sure that the oppressive regime of Genosha remained in place. Pipeline claimed to have changed since then, but Abyss couldn't buy it. Nor could he forgive him, at least not yet.

"What do you want Cormic? I don't feel like flinging insults today."

Pipeline shook his head. "No insults man. Just wanted to talk to you."

"Ok," Abyss said letting the word hang there.

Clearing his throat, Pipeline said, "I know I've been a pain and I know you don't much care for me, but I'm trying to do right."

Nils folded his arms across his chest and scowled. "You got a long way to go."

"I know, but I have to start somewhere. I been calling in some favors and I've found your family Abyss."

Abyss stiffened. He hadn't seen his family in years. In fact, despite everyone's perception being different, it had been over a hundred years for Nils. His memories of his family were so vague that he could pass by one of them on the street and not know it. Too much time had passed, but even that vagueness still tugged at his heart. He wanted to know his family and eventually, he wanted his kids to know his family too. As awkward as that explanation was going to be, they deserved to know where they came from. He just never thought he would have that opportunity until now.

Seeing that Abyss was at a loss for words, Pipeline continued. "I did some research on them. They're living in South Africa. Your Mom and brother have been there ever since Magneto came to power to Genosha."

"What about my Dad?"

"He died of diabetes complications a few years back. I'm really sorry."

Abyss sighed. "I never really knew him anyway. Just little stuff. My powers manifested when I was five."

"I'm sorry man. About everything. I know that'll never be enough, but—

Abyss reached out and hugged the man he had spent so much time loathing. "It's a start Pipeline. Don't know how I can thank you. You have no idea—

"Don't thank me man. I owe you a lot more," Pipeline said as he pulled from Abyss' embrace. It made him uncomfortable and happy all at once. He reached into his jean pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. "This has their name and address and phone number. Hopefully, you can get in touch with them."

Taking the paper from him, Nils looked down at the names of his brother and mother. He smiled literally from ear to ear. "I can't believe it. Never really thought I'd see them again."

Pipeline stuck out a firm hand and said, "Least I could do."

Abyss nodded, took the hand, and gave it a firm shake. "Friends?"

"Friends."

**=X=**

**Muir Island**

**Commons Area (Ten Minutes Later**)

Nils walked into the commons area still looking down at the paper. In an instant, he almost wanted to forgive Pipeline for everything he had done. This was a gift that he could never repay. The only reason he didn't call them right this instance was because of the fear in the back of his mind. What if his Mom and brother had moved on? What if they didn't want to talk to him? He wasn't sure if he could take that rejection.

Looking up from the paper, Abyss saw M filing her nails and watching Jersey Shore on the plasma screen TV. He laughed and said, "Even in high-def those guys don't look any smarter."

"I don't watch them for their intelligence. Everyone needs a reminder of why they're superior to the masses. This one is mine," M said as she continued filing her nails. The file had to be specially made for her considering her super tough composition. She had answered Abyss as if he was just a wisp of wind that was going to quickly find its way out of the room.

"They need a mutant to help spice things up," Abyss said.

M looked back at him with a vindictive smile. "You'd make a perfect candidate."

"You know you could stand to be a little nicer. Like your boyfriend."

M laughed. "Given how he treats you darling you should consider me for sainthood."

Abyss smiled and plopped himself on the couch next to her. "Maybe yesterday. But not today. Today he helped me find my family. He's been looking for them for a while I guess. Gave me my Mom's phone number and everything."

"Guilt can make people do strange things," M said as she sat down her file and started flipping through the channels. Jersey Shore lost its appeal if she was going to have to listen to Abyss chatter away in the background.

"Wouldn't exactly call helping someone finding their family strange."

"He had no obligation to help you or any other Mutate. His time in the Press Gang was necessary for his survival. Any one of you would have taken the opportunity to join it if given the chance."

Abyss knew M was catty, but this was ridiculous. "Mutants were sheltered and treated like animals and you try to justify it?"

"Not justify. Just being realistic about it," M said as she stood up and walked over to the microwave not far from the TV. It had just beeped and she pulled out a TV dinner meal. She loathed the things, but the doctor hadn't gone shopping and these were all that were left.

"Well here's a bit of realistic fact for ya. Pipeline can't possibly like you for your personality. You're as ugly on the inside as I am on the out."

Sticking a plastic fork in the steaming meal, M said, "Ugly people just say that to make themselves feel better. Besides, you shouldn't be so excited about meeting your Mom."

"Why the hell not?"

"Family is dangerous. They disappoint you. They use you. They hurt you," M said, the last part of her warning spoken softer than the others. Thoughts of her time as Penance began to race through her mind. Her own brother had used her as food.

"I doubt my family is as fucked up as yours," Abyss said as he got off the couch and stomped out of the room.

M shrugged and commenced to eating her meal.

**=X=**

**Muir Island**

**Gym**

Havok ran a good even pace on the treadmill. He was running at a 6:30 mile and was going to attempt to keep that pace for six miles. It would hopefully be enough to exhaust him for the day. He had too many things on his mind. Things that no one on his team knew about and if he let himself get too bored those thoughts would never stop eating away at him. The deeds he had done before this team was formed and behind this team's back were ever present in his mind. Work was the only way he knew to quiet them.

He was surprised when Abyss walked into the gym because the mutant's physiology gave him a constant strength. Not being made of traditional muscle mass, Abyss couldn't get any weaker nor could he get any stronger. He would always remain at the same level of physical strength so exercise was a futile thing for him. That could only mean he was looking for something else.

Slowing his run to a light jog, Havok said, "Something I can help you with?"

Appearing sheepish for a moment, Abyss finally asked, "Do you get along with your brother?"

It was an odd question that prompted an odd glance from Havok, but Alex knew Abyss wasn't exactly the most normal of people. So he indulged it. "We're not trying to kill each other, but I wouldn't say we're writing love letters. I know he cares about me, but we just clash."

"Why?"

Havok slowed his pace down to a walk and wiped his forehead with his black towel. "We're too much alike I guess. He's a damn good leader and I've always wanted to be respected like him."

Just as innocently and honestly as a small child, Abyss said, "But you are a good leader Havok."

Alex smiled more than he would have liked to. "Well thanks Nils. I appreciate that."

"So would you like to get along with your brother if you got the chance?"

"Yea I think I would. I don't know if that'll ever happen though. Guess I shouldn't complain. Far as siblings go in Xavier's world, Scott and me are actually pretty well off. Sometimes I just feel like Xavier stole him from me."

"Maybe you should try Alex. He might like it."

If it was that easy Havok would have done it a long time ago, but Scott was set in his ways. And so was he. "The work we're doing here is too important for me to worry about my personal life. Maybe one day."

"I guess I'm asking because Pipeline did something for me today. He let me know where my family was. And I'm just scared how they might react to me."

"Don't be. Family is too important to be scared of it. Find them," Havok said and with a smile added, "You might be surprised."

_Abyss come to me. Your family needs you._

Hearing the voice of his wife in his head, Abyss began to quickly back away from Havok. "Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it."

Seeing the awkward turn, Havok put his lips to the side and said more than a bit confused, "No problem. Anytime."

When Abyss was out of the gym, Alex started back to his run. "Strange kid."

**=X=**

**Frost Biological Solutions HQ**

"SHIELD could be a problem," Christian Frost said to an audience of Damien Tryp, Emplate and Eli Bard in his private conference room. Not a single employee knew of its existence and it wasn't in the building's floor plans.

"What did they want?" Bard asked. He was garbed in an immaculate black suit that was more expensive than some cars. SHIELD made him nervous. They only got involved when they felt there was strong enough lead to work off of. How had Christian managed to draw attention to himself?

Christian saw Eli's displeasure, but didn't flinch in the face of it. If you could look Winston Frost in the eye then everyone else was easy. "Bridge was asking about Dr. Ryan and he wanted to know about my dealings with you and Damien. Of course he had no warrant so he didn't get answers. Still, I know he'll be back."

Tryp tapped his fingers lightly on the large oval oak table. "He's fishing for something."

"Because he has something he's not sure what to do with," Emplate said through his respirator. "We need to be careful in how we proceed with our plans."

"Agreed. Bridge is a persistent bastard if nothing else," Damien said. Singularity Securities had been scrutinized by nearly every law enforcement agency on the planet. He had encountered Nicky Fury and G.W. Bridge both at one point. There were enough veiled threats from the two of them to constitute a lawsuit.

Christian poured himself a glass of ice water. He took a sip before continuing. "He also wanted to know about The Crafter."

"We without a doubt have a leak," Eli said as he twirled a pen between his fingers. "Our connection to The Crafter must not be discovered."

"Frost brought this on us. If his sister wasn't so prominent, SHIELD would never have paid us any attention," Emplate said.

Eli sat his pen down and intertwined his hands. "If that's the case then Bridge is only looking at us because he wants to find some way to put a dent in the X-Men's new found popularity."

"Let's not assume anything," Tryp said. "Our best course of action is clear."

Frost felt that Emma was becoming a point too often hammered. It had been Bard that ordered him to make contact with his sister. They might have been able to buy themselves more time out of the spotlight if not for that. If Bridge was snooping around then the fault wasn't with him. Damn what Emplate had to say about it.

"I'm assuming you have an idea Damien."

"Of course. We simply give Bridge something else to pay attention to."

Eli smiled. "A distraction. A simple plan not easily executed in this case."

"If we put our minds together then I'm sure we can think of something."

"What of your older counterpart?" Emplate asked.

Damien snorted. "His usefulness is starting to dwindle. We've changed the timeline too much."

Eli waved a dismissive hand. "No matter. I believe I have an idea."

**=X=**

**Muir Island **

**Conference Room**

Havok's cell phone had alerted him to an incoming video call and he had sprinted to the conference room to catch it. Before switching the video on, he wiped the sweat off of his forehead with his towel. He hadn't time to look to see who as calling and he wanted to look somewhat presentable, especially if it was Emma. That woman could find flaw in anything.

He was relieved to see the face of Mikhail Rasputin. "Hey! Haven't heard from you lately. How goes things?"

"Well comrade. Very well," Mikhail said. His face was pale and Alex noticed he was more tense than usual. "I have good news. My sources have discovered Adel's next meeting location."

Havok's face beamed. "Damn good new man! Send me what you got. We'll pounce on it."

Mikhail nodded. "Good my friend. I hope you are able to apprehend him this time around."

"You can bet on it," Havok said as the video call came to an abrupt end. Alex just figured it was a power shortage on Mikhail's end.

Half across the world, Mikhail felt sick. He was sending his friends right into a trap. And he had to do it with Cassandra Nova smiling behind him the entire time.

**PART TWO: Attack Commence**

**Muir Island**

**War Room**

Havok sat at the intercom system in the team's conference room of sorts. This was where they were briefed on their missions and where they discussed any major rumblings in the mutant world. X-Force was a covert unit, which meant keeping abreast of all things current amongst mutantkind. It would be impossible to move in the shadows without knowing the light that created it.

Leaning into the microphone, Havok said, "X-Force, may I have your attention."

Abyss pulled away from the kiss of his wife and looked up at the corner of his ceiling. He turned back to Selene and said, "We're going to have to do this later."

"You need to tell them about us."

"I will," Abyss promised as he got up from the bed.

_A mission has unexpectedly found its way to us._

M pushed her hair back into a ponytail and looked at the sweat glistening across Pipeline's chest. This love making session had been a particularly good one since Cormic had been on the sidelines for a while. And she wanted to make him feel better about how things went in New Mexico. Havok did not know her lover's worth, but he would one day. She would see to it.

"Guess we better see what Alex is talking about," Pipeline said as he searched the bed for his search.

_It is a mission that I think will end our fight against Adel_.

"Remember that your stance and good balance are two key elements to any type of hand to hand combat," Shatterstar said as he walked out of the sparring room with Dr. Reyes. The two had recently started working together in improving the doctor's combat ability.

"I'll keep that in mind. Guess you should go see what your boss wants," Cecelia said as she turned to walk back to her office.

"And you have been greatly improving Doctor," Shatterstar said before taking the opposite direction to the War Room.

_So drop whatever you're doing and report to the War Room now._

Madrox threw the last dart and struck a bull's eye. He threw his hands up in celebration and stuck his tongue out at Marrow. "I win! HA!"

"Only because pretty pretty Havok wants us. Next time that dart will be up your ass," Marrow said as she walked out of the room.

**=X=**

"So intel suggests that Adel is going to be hooking up with AIM again," Havok said as a hologram of the globe appeared in the center of the table everyone was seated around. A tiny blinking, blue dot in central Africa indicated where they were likely headed. "Supposedly, he is going to be meeting with them in Chad. The objective here people is to capture Adel dead or alive."

Marrow didn't wait to be asked for her opinion. "Why are we tracking down this petty human when McCoy is still out there?"

"And let's not forget about The Genegineer," Pipeline added. "The bastard is cutting up kids."

"Don't forget my brother," M said. "He's probably snacking on the ones that The Genegineer gets tired of."

"And what about Eli Bard? Someone like him sitting out there getting stronger is not a good idea," Abyss said.

Havok took in all the complaints. "I have a good answer for all of those. I believe every last one of those people are connected in some way to Adel. And I think if we can take him out of the picture things will start to become much clearer."

M cut her eyes at Havok. "And what about AIM? What are we going to do about them?"

Alex knew why he was getting that stare and he was thankful M had enough tact to not lay out every gory detail in here. "We'll handle them as we come across them. AIM is an organization recently on the rocks. I don't think we'll need to do much to them."

"I wondered how that came to be," M muttered.

Ignoring the comment, Havok said, "We're going to leave in three hours. Get some shut eye, do whatever you want. Just make sure you're ready to leave."

**=X=**

**Weapon X Compound**

Fatale could feel her team's energy like an aura of brimming, red violence. They had been operating in a restrained manner for too long and the moment was finally approaching when they would get to cut loose. The X-Men were the fattest buffalo in the herd and they were the lions about to feast on them. A meal that long overdue was sure to build some excitement in the ranks. She was just happy that she was getting to see more than her fair share of it.

"If you don't know already our team's target is Xavier's little dirty secret, X-Force," Fatale said, laughing inwardly at history repeating itself. Havok was always in the trenches of Xavier's wars. She remembered vividly his time pretending to be a thrall of Dark Beast. Even though he was undercover, Fatale knew Havok had enjoyed part of his time in The Brotherhood.

"Guess McCoy complained enough to Nova huh?" Scalphunter said as he looked into the scope of one of his rifles.

Fatale smiled. "McCoy's trouncing actually proved useful. X-Force revealed themselves to us without even knowing it. So we're going to lure them into a trap."

Frenzy burped and rubbed her stomach playfully. "So what are the mission objectives?"

Omega Red gave her a hearty smile while Fatale turned up her nose. She had watched Frenzy eat two Philly subs earlier and couldn't imagine the burp smelling anything less than onions and methane. The lack of manners went hand in hand with Frenzy's take no prisoners attitude. Cargill didn't give a damn what anyone thought about. Fatale could respect that, but it made her a wildcard.

"Our primary objective is the capture of Marrow. The Director has specific plans in mind for her. Everyone else needs to be dead," fatale said.

Omega Red snorted. "We should be able to kill Dark Beast's little pet."

"Agreed," Fatale said. "But that's not for us to decide. I want everyone to understand this though. Havok is mines and mines alone."

Scalphunter slung his rifle over his shoulder. "I think Shatterstar might be interesting."

Sauron, silent throughout the briefing, pulled his wings around him tighter than they already were. Fatale thought the behavior odd, but as long as Lykos did his job he wasn't going to evaluate his mental state. She just needed him to draw blood.

**=X=**

**Chad**

A sequence of bright blue lights signaled the arrival of X-Force in the Central African country. The humidity of the Chad jungle was instantly felt by all of them, prompting M to tug at her shirt and say, "Perhaps we should have came with a little less attire."

Marrow snickered. "Always trying to find a way to get out of your clothes."

Abyss faked a gag. "It's like breathing clouds."

"Focus people," Havok said as he began to push through the vines and brush in front of them. "We need to find this base Mikhail's intel was talking about."

Shatterstar unsheathed his swords and began to cut through the green foliage with expert ease. It would have been too easy for Havok to simply blow all out of this out of their way, but there was no telling what defenses AIM had in place. They could easily have something involving their mutant nerve gas in place. He was still angry that they had not been able to stop AIM from getting their hands on that substance. The idea of such a weapon existing only made the job of X-Force that much more important. He could only hope they would get some more clues about it here.

After a few minutes of cutting, pulling, slashing and complaints from Jamie, they found themselves in front of what looked like it could have been some sort of clandestine base. Except now it was covered in thick vines and what metal was visible was clearly rusted. Glass windows were blown out and the fence had been yanked down to the ground. Random bird nests were planted in the upper reaches of the building and there were a few burnt out cars placed around the circular complex. The worst indication of long term neglect was the bleached human skull right at the complex's entrance.

"This place looks like it was attacked," Madrox said.

"A long time ago," Pipeline added.

Havok's face immediately tightened into a scowl. "This can't be right. Mikhail's coordinates were right here. M and Blind Faith scan for any life signs."

Monet wanted to tell Havok a few choice words, but she knew the more she insulted him the more people would start to wonder what the source of the tension was. So she shouted a string of curses in her mind and closed her eyes. Alexi closed his eyes as well and the two telepaths searched the area for mental signatures outside of their own.

Blind Faith opened his eyes and said, "Nothing."

Havok was disheartened. "Nothing?"

"That's what he said," M confirmed. "And he's right. Not a single signature in the nearby vicinity."

Madrox pushed his lips to one side and said, "Looks like Mikhail might have put us on a wild goose chase."

Havok remained quiet for a minute and started shaking his head. "No. Mikhail's intel isn't wrong. Someone is trying to trick us. No way would AIM leave a base this intact. Even with the damage, someone could still come in and put it back online. No, we're being tricked. Someone doesn't want anyone to come in."

"And let me guess," Madrox groaned. "We're going in."

"You damn skippy," Havok said as he pointed a finger at the building. "Adel is in there and I'm going to find him."

Frenzy and Fatale watched from behind the vines and trees as X-Force walked into the ability. Fatale had a natural camouflage ability that she had learned to extend to a small radius around her allowing Cargill to share in the power. Frenzy couldn't wait for the mutants to be out of hearing range. "Those idiots! Havok can't be that desperate to nab this Adel guy."

"Apparently he is," Fatale smiled. "Let the hunt begin."

**=X=**

**Frost Biological Solutions**

"The idea is to distract SHIELD correct?" Eli said. "And if Bridge seems to have a problem with the X-Men's newfound popularity then let us combine the two concepts to our favor."

Before Bard could go any further, the door to the conference room opened and in walked two other members of The Coven. Brimstone Love was the first to walk in given his hulking size and large horns. He took up the whole length of the doorway and his long black cloak trailed behind him. Mr. M followed behind him. He was shirtless, glowing blue, and wearing a Fedora hat. Eli laughed at him and said, "Did you really need to come in without a shirt?"

"Fine," Absolon said as he manipulated the air molecules surrounding his body into a black A-shirt. "Is that suitable enough for you?"

"It'll do. You gentlemen have walked in at the perfect time. I was just about to outline my plan to get SHIELD off of our proverbial asses."

Brimstone Love laughed and sat down at the chair specially made for him. "This should be interesting."

"As I was saying, Assistant Director Bridge is suspicious of the X-Men's new popularity. So let's use that to distract him from us," Bard said. "There is a very large attack about to take place on the X-Men."

"From who? The bastard running The Brotherhood?" Damien Tryp asked.

"No. Not yet at least. This attack is coming courtesy of a newly reformed Weapon X Program. They've been waiting in the wings to attack and through an informant of mines I know that they're about to attack soon."

Tryp wasn't making the connection. "So how is this going to help us with SHIELD?"

"I am aware of some of the Program's objectives in this attack. One of these is kidnapping the member of X-Force known as Marrow. We can intercept Marrow after she is kidnapped, warp her mind to our own purposes and unleash her as a weapon to discredit the X-Men."

"Why Marrow? I'm sure there are other more famous X-Men we could pursue for such an attack?" Christian Frost asked.

Eli held up two fingers and said, "One, Marrow has been off the radar for a while and given her history the X-Men won't immediately suspect mind control. Neither will SHIELD. Two, X-Force has been in our way and this will keep them distracted as well."

Brimstone Love leaned forward and said, "This plan all hinges on Weapon X actually being successful in their attack. Something I'm not entirely sure they can be. The X-Men of my history were quite resilient."

"That's why with a bit of a push here and nudge there we're going to make sure that Weapon X succeeds," Bard said as he leaned back in his chair completely satisfied with his plan.

**=X=**

**Chad**

**1st Floor Control Room**

Havok looked around at all of the burnt out computers and said, "This doesn't mean this base isn't operational. Lower levels might actually be where the action is going on."

"It would have to be," Shatterstar said as he leaned down to look at one of the computers. "These are completely shot."

Pipeline saw something underneath one of the turned over chairs and walked away from the group to check it out. He bent down and grabbed the all too familiar collar. "Well, that's interesting."

Alex walked over to Cormic and said, "What?"

Holding up the yellow and red collar, Pipeline said, "This look familiar?"

Havok held the collar up against what little light was coming into the control room. The emergency lights for this facility were still on amazingly. "What the hell is this doing here?"

"A lot of tech from Genosha made it to Africa after The Magistrates abandoned ship," Pipeline said. "I'm just a little worried it looks like AIM is interested in some of it."

Abyss saw the collar and was instantly flooded with anger. "What the hell?"

Havok shushed him and said, "We know. All the more reason to keep looking around this place. Even if Adel isn't here I want to know why the hell one of these are."

"Can't hurt to look around. Not like we sensed anyone in here," Blind Faith said.

"That information is unreliable now if one of those is involved," M said. "If they have these then it stands to reason there might be some psi-blockers in here as well. We could be walking into a trap."

"Not scared are you pretty pretty?" Marrow asked. The look she got from Monet made her time in this humid jungle worthwhile. She could never pass up a chance to knock the little princess down from her perch. "If you want, just teleport back. I doubt we need you anyway."

"Leave it alone Marrow," Shatterstar said as he stepped between the two women. He cared nothing for Monet and her arrogance, but this wasn't the time for taunting. X-Force needed to focus on the mission at hand. Genoshan tech being mixed in with AIM just added to his worry that the organization was going to make a major move against mutants.

Havok sat down the Genoshan collar on top of a computer and said, "We're going to split up and cover this facility as quickly as possible. I want to cover this place from top to bottom. Something has got to be in here we can use to our advantage. Blind Faith, Marrow, and Shatterstar will be one team. Pipeline, Abyss, and Madrox will be another. That leaves me and M as the last group."

"You always get the big, strong ones to cover you," Madrox said. "First Guido. Now her."

Monet took a deep breath to keep her calm. She didn't want to be alone with Havok. Not after what had happened with Legion. The thought of being alone with Havok again made her more uncomfortable than she was willing to admit. Alex had roped her into doing something she never wanted to do. He had been able to read her better in that situation than even Emma could have. It was scary to be around somebody with that much power over you.

"Stay in communication people. Just in case this is a set-up," Havok said.

**=X=**

**1st Floor Cafeteria**

Havok swung open the light metal door to the cafeteria, which was about the size of an average high school one. M kept her distance behind him with her arms folded across her chest. She looked around the cafeteria and up at its roof. "I have no idea what you intend to find in here."

"Might be something worthwhile if you got the stick out of your ass and actually helped me out."

"Why don't you just program me to help?" M shot back.

Havok stopped looking around and looked Monet square in the eyes. He knew the source of the woman's animosity and he understood it, but there was a time and place for everything. A mission was not the place to air out personal grudges. "Look Monet, I get you're pissed with me, but we did the right thing. Turning Legion over to Xavier's would have been a mistake."

"How? They could have helped him."

"Legion doesn't want to be helped. He didn't want to be helped in the past and I doubt he does now. Especially with AIM merging all his personalities. A man like him is best used as a weapon. Let him give in to his nature."

"Could you be any more of a classless jackass? Who are you to judge anyone's nature?"

"I know exactly who I am," Havok said. "That's why I'm leading this team. Emma and Logan knew I could make the choices that needed to be made. And I thought you could too. That's why I picked you."

"I'm not some telepathic missile you can guide and shoot where you want."

Havok threw back his head and laughed. "Trust me woman. I'm not sure any man could direct you. I picked you because I thought you were like Emma. Capable of doing what had to be done regardless of what it was that had to be."

M had always looked up to Frost and hated being called anything less than her. "There is a line Havok. Everything has a line."

"Turning a criminal against other criminals is the line for you? Are you sure you're on the right team?" Havok asked.

M was about to respond, but she immediately froze and signaled Havok to be quiet. _I picked up on others in here Alex. For just a moment._

Before Alex could make a move to react, a swirling orange portal opened up on his side and a purple heel struck him across the side of his head. M was about to reach out for the offending leg, when a fist smacked her across the back of the head. She went flying over Havok's downed body and crashed into a round table. As she flew through the air, an electrically charged bullet struck her in the back. M cried out in pain as thousands of volts surged through her body. Smoke came off of her sizzled skin as she lay there unconscious.

"C'mon Havok. You can't say hello?" Fatale said as she lifted a disoriented Havok up by the collar of his shirt and tossed him into a molded refrigerator next to the food line.

He crashed into the refrigerator and slid down it. He tried to force himself to stand up, but Fatale stabbed one of her heels right through Havok's shoulder. Alex cried out as pain ripped across his entire left side. Poison from Fatale's heel immediately began to numb Havok's body so he couldn't move as he was kicked across the face again and again. When she was satisfied with the attack, Fatale bent down and spit in Havok's face. "Long time no see bastard."

**=X=**

**2nd Floor Locker Room**

"We don't need the geezer with us," Marrow said as she looked back at Blind Faith. He was a few feet behind them and cautiously scanning each row of lockers with a pistol in one hand. "We'd move faster without him."

"Don't be so quick to discount our priest. He led a successful mutant underground for years," Shatterstar said. Blind Faith may not have been physically impressive, but his mind was sharp enough to make up for it. "And Havok trusts him. That should be enough to for you."

"Both of you shut up!" Blind Faith said. "I hear something."

Marrow and Shatterstar went silent in an attempt to hear what Alexi had. They quickly picked up on it and began scanning the vicinity for its source. It was a whirring noise that was steady growing louder. Blind Faith put his pistol to his side and began looking through some of the rusted lockers. "This is strange. We should—

Alexi's advice was cut off as a neon blue spear exploded through one of the lockers and struck him in the shoulder. Metal shrapnel exploded in every direction and cut Blind Faith across his cheeks as he was lifted off his feet. The spear carried him through the air and painfully lodged him to one of the lockers. He winded as the weapon dug deeper into his flesh.

A terrible caw followed the attack on Blind Faith and Sauron leaped down from the roof on top of Marrow. The mutant's wings wrapped tight around The Morlock and kept her from reaching a bone dagger. She screamed in frustration as the leathery flesh restrained her. Blind Faith's attack had distracted her and made her easy pickings.

Shatterstar lifted up one of his swords to strike Sauron, but a bullet shot the weapon out of his hand. The sword clinked across the concrete floor until it skidded to a stop. He turned his head to find the bullet's origin and was nearly struck in the face by another bullet. Quickly jerking his head back, he was able to avoid it, but now he was pissed a she spotted a body moving between the lockers.

"Now you're mines," Shatterstar said as he leaped on top of one of the lockers. He hopped from locker to locker without making a sound. Hollow bones gave him an advantage in the arena of stealth. His opponent wouldn't know he was above him until it was too late to do anything about it.

Blind Faith watched Shatterstar move away and tried to pull the spear from his shoulder. He damn near blacked out every time he tried and was scared too hard a yank would send him spiraling into an unconscious state. He closed his eyes and said, "Lord give me strength. They need me."

**=X=**

**2nd Floor Laboratory**

Pipeline rummaged through a pile of burnt documents, reading a few here and there in search of useful information. He saw a few notes about projects involving locals. Anything that looked worthwhile, he folded up and stuffed it into his pockets. Lately, Havok was gobbling up whatever information he could get. If he could come across something useful then Alex might realize he was worth something on X-Force.

Abyss was opening up cabinets and drawers looking for something they could take back to Muir Island. "How the hell did technology from Genosha end up all the way out here anyway?"

"Alot of The Magistrates sold whatever they could for clothes and food, "Pipeline replied as he folded up another partially burnt piece of paper.

Nils didn't respond. He felt absolutely no sympathy for The Magistrates or their families. They got whatever was coming to them. Normally, he would have voiced that sentiment, but Pipeline had done him a tremendous favor. The least he owed him was silence.

Madrox and five of his dupes were searching the area in much the same way as Abyss and Pipeline. All they were finding were broken beakers, burnt papers, and busted computers. Jamie was pulling apart a tangle of wires and said, "I don't think there's shit in here. Whoever came through this base was on it."

Suddenly, a metallic tendril burst through the wires and wrapped around Jamie's neck. He was lifted into the air and slammed into the roof. The other dupes were caught in similar predicaments as more tendrils ripped through the ground and started tossing them around like rag dolls. One dupe's back was broke n as it was slammed into a burnt out computer console. Another's neck was snapped by the pure pressure of the coil wrapped around it.

"Holy shit," Abyss said as he rushed to Pipeline's side. "What do we do?"

The source of the coils exploded up from the ground behind the two mutants. Omega Red took advantage of the surprise by kicking Pipeline in the pelvis and choking Abyss. The Magistrate skidded across the ground and knocked the back of his head on a metal beam. The world began to spin around him and he tried to focus. Abyss and Madrox needed him to get up and help them.

"It is going to be fun popping you like a pimple," Omega Red grinned as he tightened his grip on Abyss.

Nils was trying to respond to the Russian's coils with his own custom tendrils, but he was horrified to realize he couldn't access his powers.

**PART THREE: The Last Leg**

**Eliphas' Dimension**

Bard floated his hands above the torn picture of Abyss and said, "I bind you from your powers. Be crippled and broke. I bind you from your powers."

He had pictures of other X-Force members, but he had a special hate for Abyss. The ugly bastard thought he could steal the affections of Selene. He was Selene's only love and that was the way it was always going to be. There was no one else who was going to have a say in the matter. He would see Selene burn in the fires of some hellish world before he let another love her.

Brimstone Love walked into Bard's office without knocking and said, "We have Selene's location."

**=X=**

**1st Floor Cafeteria**

Alex lifted up his good arm and lobbed off a close range blast at Fatale. She rolled sideways and avoided the attack. His energy beam slammed into the far wall and shook the entire building. Havok's solar charged metabolism was working the poison through his system so feeling was returning to his limbs. As quickly as he could, Havok rose to his feet.

Fatale came back with a swift roundhouse and cut Havok across the cheek with her heel. A thin red line appeared on Havok's face and the blood began to trickle down. She licked her lips, overjoyed at the success of her attack. Alex had this beat down coming after betraying The Dark Beast and her. She had actually trusted Havok when he was in The Brotherhood. That face made her angrier at him than anything else.

Touching his cheek, Havok said, "I don't know what's going on here, but I'll be damned if I don't find out."

"Two words sweetie. Weapon X."

That was the last name havoc had expected to hear. He was familiar with the name for a number of reasons, but he thought the organization dismantled. Why were they here? He was almost positive Fatale wasn't in charge so who was? And how had they found out about X-Force?

"Don't look so confused. I'll lay out everything before I kill you," Fatale said as she charged.

Meanwhile, Frenzy had a gun loaded with titanium bullets aimed at an unconscious M's head. She cocked the gun, put it out in front of her, and closed one eye as she aimed it at M. "Sorry cutie."

M, hearing the parting words, woke up and grabbed a chair that she flung at Frenzy just as ht e gun went off. The chair deflected the bullet and M rose to her fee. Telepathically attacking Frenzy and Fatale was her first move, but they were too heavily psi-shielded. They probably didn't even feel a tug. So she flew off the table she had been thrown on and punched Frenzy on the chin.

The blow knocked her head back and sent her dreads flying in every direction, but she held her ground. Frenzy responded to M's attack by wrapping her hand around M's neck and body slamming her into the floor. Dust, plaster, and tile flew into the air as M's body created a crater in the floor. M reached up and grabbed Frenzy by her hair. She pulled the Weapon X agent down and mashed her head into the floor. Frenzy flipped over and landed on her back.

Standing shakily to her feet, M grabbed a nearby table, lifted it high above her and slammed it repeatedly into Frenzy's face. After a few dozen smashes, M tossed the table to the side and shook plaster out of her hair. M went to reach for Frenzy's hair when the woman's foot reared up and connected with M's collarbone. Monet cried out as she was knocked back away from her opponent.

Frenzy got to her feet and wiped away the blood at the corners of her mouth. A black eye was quickly forming on the right side of her face. She cracked her neck and said "I always liked my pussy rough."

M flew at the woman and they began to exchange a flurry of punches. It ended with Monet delivering a hard uppercut that lifted Frenzy off her feet. Before Cargill could make contact with the ground, M grabbed her dreads and flew up into the air. She slung Frenzy like a bat into the roof and then tossed her back into the ground like a bowling ball. Frenzy wasn't getting up anytime soon.

Fatale did her best to not get distracted by Frenzy's fight. Her focus was finishing off Havok. Alex tried to throw a punch, but she dodged it and flipped him over. He fired off a blast at her before he hit the ground, but Fatale flipped out of the way. Painfully, Havok got to his feet and lifted his injured arm to fire two blasts at Fatale. She danced between them like a ballerina, flipped forward and slashed Havok deep across the throat with her wrist blade. Alex doubled back from her and reached up to cover his throat. He could feel the blood squirting between his fingers.

M saw the attack and closed the gap between her and Fatale in seconds. She grabbed the wrist that had the offending blade and flung Fatale through the cafeteria's doors. Normally, she would have thrown her heard enough to turn her bones to dust, but Frenzy had worn her out. It was Fatale's lucky day.

"Alex!" M said as she rushed to a bleeding Havok. She could see that his skin was starting to lose its color.

Scooping him up in her arms, M activated her teleportation band and was gone.

**=X=**

**2nd Floor Laboratory**

Madrox tapped his ear communicator and said, "Guys we got a big f'ing problem down here and its name is Omega Red!"

When he received no response he let loose a large volume of profanities. They had to have walked into a trap. Why else would Omega Red suddenly come in busting heads? And if the others weren't responding then they were probably caught up in their own messes. He really felt like kicking Havok's ass at the moment.

"Get back!" Madrox shouted as he pulled out one of his pistols and shot at the tendrils trying to ensnare him again. He had never known Omega Red's coils to be this long and extensive. While he never personally encountered the guy, the government kept detailed files on other countries' operatives. And Jamie had this nasty habit of snooping.

Pounding his chest three times, Madrox created additional dupes and pointed at Abyss. "Get to him! Now!"

He watched helplessly as the dupes tried to get to Abyss, but they were batted away by the tendrils of Omega Red that seemed to cover every corner of the room. Something about this just wasn't sitting right with Madrox so on a hunch; he put on his spectrum goggles. He worked his way through the various modes that Shatterstar had put into the goggles before stopping on infrared. Clear as day, he now saw the source of many of the tendrils. There were invisible orbs placed throughout the laboratory that were the source of the coils whipping his dupes' ass.

Taking the rifle from his back, Madrox split himself into seven more dupes. With their newfound sight, they started to shoot down the orbs creating the endless supply of metal vines. It wouldn't be long before they could get to Abyss.

One of the dupes ducked under a coil as it whipped past its head. He shot his pistol at one of the orbs and shattered it. The coils attached to the orb straightened out and shot off like missiles. One struck Madrox's dupe in the shoulder and ripped clean through him. The same effect was repeated every time one of the tendril spewing orbs were destroyed. Dupes were strewn across the laboratory; injured and dead. The main Madrox had avoided injury and moved in to help a gagging Abyss.

Omega Red moved his face close to Abyss' and the Genoshan could smell Arkady's breathe. "What's wrong comrade? No fight in you?"

Abyss was too busy struggling for air to muster a response. He couldn't access his powers and he knew exactly why. In the century that he had spent with Selene, she had never once taught him magic. He asked one time and her raging response was his cue to never ask again. Eliphas had scarred her too deeply he supposed, but she did impart one lesson on him. She taught him how to sense when the magical arts were present and right now that energy was all over him. Someone was using magic to prevent him from accessing his powers. But who? And why?

"A pity you have no fight in you," Omega Red said as one of his tendrils inched towards Abyss' back.

Pipeline finally woke up from the hard impact he had been given from Omega Red's kick. He shook his head to clear his starry vision and checked his right thigh to make sure his energy rifle was still in its harness. Thankful, that it still was Pipeline was about to rise to his feet, but found himself still dizzy. Sliding back down to the floor, he saw Abyss still locked in Omega Red's death grip.

Cormic watched helplessly as one of Omega Red's tendrils arced high into the air, thrust towards Abyss' back and ripped straight through his chest. Abyss gave a silent, painful cry as his body shook and his head looked up towards the roof.

Pipeline jumped to his feet and screamed, "NOO!"

He stretched out his hand and immediately used his mutant ability to digitize Omega Red. He used his unique form of teleportation to hurl Omega Red to the other side of the room. Pipeline's power had the effect of disorienting its target, so a dozen Madrox dupes were able to begin unloading their weapons on a confused Omega Red. The Russian could slowly feel the bullets banging and chipping away at his armor.

Pipeline ran to Abyss and scooped the bloody mutant into his arms. Red liquid was rushing across Cormic's hands and forearms. He looked in the direction of Madrox and said, "Find the others and get the hell out of here!"

With that, he teleported away hoping he could save his injured teammate.

**=X=**

**2nd Floor Locker Room**

Sauron expanded his wings and dropped a nearly suffocated Marrow to the ground. She was gasping and wheezing for air. Cawing at nothing in particular, Sauron then turned his attention to the trapped and bleeding Blind Faith. This was one of the mutants he didn't have to keep alive.

"I shall feast on you old man and make you my scream before all is over," Sauron said as he moved closer to Alexi.

Alexi was pale from blood loss, but he still had the good sense to know when someone was going to try his face off. Gripping something behind him, he waited until the pterodactyl man was only a few feet away. Sauron expanded his arms outward and was about to rip his claws into Blind Faith's face when the priest brandished a gun. With a vengeful squeeze of his finger, he unloaded six bullets right into Sauron's face. Chunks of beak and flesh flew in every direction as Sauron gave an inaudible scream.

Blind Faith was too weak to curse the mutant as he fell to the ground. He watched with delirious curiosity as Sauron began to revert back to his human form. Alexi didn't know if the man was still hostile or not and he didn't care. If he had had more bullets in his gun he would have finished the job, but all he could hope was that Sauron stayed down.

Marrow, finally breathing normally, stood to her feet and looked at Blind Faith. Her voice was coarse as she said, "Old man, you have some balls."

"Just get me out of here," Alexi said, unable to even lift a hand to tug at the spear trapping him.

Marrow nodded and moved to put two hands around the weapon. She tugged and Blind Faith screamed like a wounded animal. Screams didn't bother Sarah. She knew them all her life while growing up in The Hill, but she knew when she wasn't succeeding. Stopping her tugging, she looked down at the entry wound and said, "I think this tool is fused to your skin upworlder."

"Father help me," Alexi said before finally passing out.

Shatterstar heard the gunfire delivered by Blind Faith, but he couldn't respond to it. He was on the hunt for whoever was ducking and dodging through the lockers. It was obvious that his opponent was on the hunt for him as well or he would have been helping Sauron. "Star wished he could have made time to skewer that coward. He freshly remembered that monster's attack on Sam.

Leaping across the lockers almost silently, Shatterstar finally caught sight of his prey. He held his breath and moved to pounce on the man. At the last second, Scalphunter spun around and shot his rifle off. Twisting his body, Shatterstar narrowly missed the bullet as it whizzed past him. He planted his food on the back of a locker for leverage and pushed off it. In mid-air, he did a roundhouse that connected with Scalphunter's jaw. The attack caused the Weapon X agent to lose control of his rifle.

"Bastard," Scalphunter cursed as he spit blood from his mouth. He quickly rose off the floor and avoided one of Shatterstar's swords by inches. The sound of it cracking through the concrete resonated in Greycrow's ear. He was starting to think that he had bit off more than he could chew.

Using parts hanging from his belt, Scalphunter assembled a shotgun with inhuman speed and took aim at a charging Shatterstar. He ducked behind a locker after the shot so he didn't see 'Star deflect the bullet with his sword. Greycrow began to move towards the exit because it was now evident he was going to need help. While cutting through the lockers his only thought was that he hoped his teammates hadn't encountered opposition this tough. Otherwise…

The thought distracted him and didn't allow him to prepare for Shatterstar's shoulder slamming into him. Greycrow flew into a locker and his head was ringing from the impact. 'Star was only seconds away from cutting right through Scalphunter's stomach. Impending death gave Greycrow a second wind. He pulled a taser out of his back pocket and used it to strike 'Star in the chest.

Voltage surged through Shatterstar and his weapons only helped in speeding along the task. He fell to the ground unconscious, smelling of burnt skin and hair.

**=X=**

**Muir Island Infirmary**

Bright blue light signaled the arrival of Pipeline and a very injured Abyss. Cormic frantically rushed Nils to a bed and yelled, "Doc! Doc!"

Cecelia bust into the room already garbed in blue scrubs and a face mask. Her hair was pulled back and tucked under a shower cap. On her hands were plastic glove already tainted with blood. She quickly saw Abyss and pushed past Pipeline. "Madre de Dios! What the hell happened?"

"We were ambushed. Walked straight into a trap."

Now that Doc was out of the way, Cormic was able to see Alex on another be in another room. All the anger he had felt at Havok in recent days vanished and he was now filled with dread. Rushing into the room, he saw a large white bandage wrapped around Havok's neck that was spotted with red. His eyes were shut, but at least he was breathing normally.

"Cormic? Are you alright?" M yelled as she saw the blood covering her lover.

"I'm ok," Pipeline said as he received an unexpected hug from M.

Monet pulled back from Cormic and said, "Then who…"

Her eyes followed his and they saw Cecelia desperately working Abyss. Monet covered her mouth and silently mouthed the words, "Oh no."

"The bastards, whoever they are, nailed us," Pipeline said as he tightened his fists.

"I know exactly who they are. I heard Fatale tell Alex. This si an attack from a revived Weapon X Program."

Pipeline didn't know much about the organization, but he heard rumors. Supposedly, it cranked out mutant super soldiers. "We have to get the others out before this gets worse."

"You're right," M said as she tried to activate her teleportation band. She tired it a few more times before saying, "It's not working."

Cormic's anger grew. "Mines either. This has got to be deliberate."

"Do you think the others are hurt?"

Pipeline shook his head. "I don't know. 'Star I'm not so much worried about but Marrow is a hothead."

"And Blind Faith is physically vulnerable."

"There's just one thing I don't get," Pipeline said as he looked back to Doc.

"What?"

"Why the hell didn't Abyss use his powers?"

**=X=**

**2nd Floor Locker Room**

"That was close," Scalphunter said to himself as he stood over an unconscious Shatterstar. He pulled out a pistol and aimed it at 'Star's head. It was a shame the guy didn't get to go out in a blaze of glory, but Greycrow had no problem admitting that he was shameless.

"Not close enough," Shatterstar said as he flipped forward. His ankle knocked the pistol out of Scalphunter's hand. Coming back to his feet, 'Star delivered a swift kick across Greycrow's face with blinding speed. He watched Scalphunter twist through the air and smack his face across one of the benches.

Shatterstar picked his words up and moved in to finish off Scalphunter. Out of his ear, he heard the rushing of feet too loud to be an average person. Leaping into the air, he gracefully dodged a punch from a sprinting Frenzy. He smiled as Frenzy clumsily tripped over Greycrow and crashed head first through a locker.

That smile quickly turned to shock as a circular, golden portal opened up on Shatterstar's right side. He tried to turn in mid-air to face whatever was about to come through the portal, but was unable to avoid the mid-air collision. The razor sharp heels of Fatale dug into his shoulders and she had a malicious smile on her face the entire time they went down. When the two mutants crashed hard into the concrete floor, Fatale's heels only dug in deeper. Shatterstar grit his teeth to keep from crying out in pain.

Fatale raised her wrist blade in the air. "This isn't Alex, but it'll have to do."

Scalphunter saw what was coming at his squad leader from a distance and said, "Watch out!"

He ran forward, knocked Fatale off of Shatterstar and narrowly missed a bone dagger stabbing through his head. Frenzy picked the bone dagger out of the wall and turned it to dust in her hand.

Marrow was standing before the three mutants, twirling bone daggers in her hands. "If you're really looking for someone to cut try me. I think it's kinky."

Fatale was helped to her feet by Scalphunter. "Just the mutant we were looking for. The Dark Beast wants to have a talk with you."

"He's going to have to wait a long time for that," Marrow said, crouching down like a predator ready to leap.

Scalphunter loaded his shotgun. "Your friends aren't coming for you. I made sure to that."

Marrow's eyes narrowed in rage as the three Weapon X agents charged.

**=X=**

**Muir Island**

Shatterstar woke up to a bright light hanging over his head. He tried to sit up but it was too painful. Fatale's heels had cut him deeper than he wanted to admit. Standing over him was Pipeline who put a restful hand on his chest. "Take it easy buddy. You kind of took a beating there."

'Star turned his head to the right to see Blind Faith next to him with a large series of bandages wrapped around his shoulder. Leaning his head back on his pillow, Shatterstar asked. "What happened?"

"Madrox found the two of you, but no Marrow. We searched that place up and down."

"Why would they take her?" Shatterstar groaned. "How's Havok? Where's Abyss?"

Pipeline took a deep breath. "You might want to lay back for this man."

**=X=**

**45 Minutes Earlier**

Cecelia pressed the defibrillator against Abyss' chest and yelled "Clear!"

The flat line was still staring in her in the face like a taunting monster. She charged the machine up again and pressed it to Abyss' chest. "Clear!"

No change.

She started to press her hands against the man's chest and began to press furiously. "Breathe dammit! Breathe Nils!"

Cecelia looked back to M and said, "Tell him to breathe!"

M fought back the tears she wanted to cry. "I already tried Cecelia. He's gone…"

Cecelia shook her head and picked up the defibrillator again. "No! No, he's not."

**=X=**

**Present**

"She kept on like that for twenty minutes before she finally stopped," Pipeline said. "Omega Red's attack was just too massive to Abyss' system."

Shatterstar threw his head back on his pillow and let loose a guttural roar. "I swear to you Cormic I will have vengeance."

Pipeline patted Shatterstar's wrist. "I know a few other people who might want a part of that party."

**=X=**

**Frost Biological Solutions**

Eli toasted a glass of wine with Frost. "My interference has led to the death of that bastard Abyss."

"And you are sure X-Force will never be able to discover that you were at the source of it?" Christian asked. He knew the X-Men were a large family and it would not take kindly to one of their own being struck down.

"I never say never Christian, but the chances are slim. Besides, no one has the right to love Selene but me. I hope that bastard realizes that now as he burns in hell."

"And what of Marrow? Are you still sending Ahab?"

Eli shook his head. "No, I have changed my mind in that regard. We'll concoct some other plan to draw away the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D. my friend. Using Marrow may alert them to our role in Abyss' death."

Christian couldn't help but wonder if the whole plan had been a ruse from the start to allow Eli to cement his revenge against the man who would claim Selene's heart.

**=X=**

**Weapon X Compound**

**Director Nova's Office**

"You have done exceedingly well Fatale. Though there was only one fatality, you accomplished the main goal. I think McCoy will be quite happy to have Marrow in his possession."

"Thank you Director. We did our best," Fatale said.

Nova nodded as she finished typing up a report summing up Fatale's mission. "Of course you did darling. That is why I want you to come with me on a personal mission of my own."

"Of course Director. May I ask, what are we doing?"

"Paying my dear brother Charles a personal visit. It's time he pay the piper," Nova smiled like an old lady buying cookies from a Girl Scout.

**NEXT ISSUE: The team is obviously reeling from the loss of Abyss and Marrow's kidnapping, but who will fill in the gaps left by the two of them? Havok isn't going to see eye to eye with Emma and Wolverine on who. **

Havok

Abyss

M

Pipeline

Marrow

Blind Faith

Cecelia Reyes

Shatterstar

Selene

Madrox

Mikhail Rasputin

Cassandra Nova

Adrienne Frost

Fatale

Scalphunter

Sauron

Frenzy

Omega Red

Eli Bard

Christian Frost

Emplate

Brimstone Love

Damien Tryp

Mr. M


	18. Chapter 18

**X-Force #17**

"**Daycare's In" Pt.2**

**Massachusetts Academy**

Cable was never very good at sleeping because he had grown up in a world where war raged around him every hour of every day. . Askani training had made it so that he was as alert in a restful state as he was in the heat of battle. An unfortunate side effect of this was a lack of anything approaching sound sleep. Besides, the idea of getting a good's night rest was unheard of. It wasn't a comfort that he missed. Nathan was the kind of man who preferred to be alert at all times and with the children now under his care, he needed to be even more aware of his surroundings. Recent attacks had reminded him just how much danger these young mutants were actually in.

So he laid in the Headmaster's bed with his eyes closed, but not really sleeping. His telepathy was something he had learned to suppress, but never to the degree of his sister and other Askani. To keep out the subconscious dreams of the many people in the Academy still required a bit of concentration. Rachel had taught him to master his telepathy, as best she could, when he was much younger. The complexities of time travel allowed him to be older physically even though his sister was actually the older sibling. It was still strange to him that she was younger than he was physically, but had all the mental capacity of Mother Askani.

He found it best to not try and think about it too much. Trying to understand time travel wasn't his department and had never been his mission. The Askani considered time travel something sacred and it deserved to be carefully examined, but Cable had never bought into that part of the group's philosophy. Time travel was a tool to him, the vehicle through which he disposed of Apocalypse. To worship it seemed contradictory to its main maxim of "What is…is."

Indeed.

Cable's eyes immediately opened and he sat up in his bed looking around his room like a hunter searching for prey. The instincts of the soldier had taken the place of the teacher. Even when he realized there was no one there, he didn't relax. He knew the voice that had just spoke to him and in the back of his mind he sincerely hoped that he had actually managed to slip into a dream.

He heard a pitter patter of feet coming from down the hall and reached for the Psimatar that was under his bed. Cable pointed the weapon at the door to his bedroom when the feet stopped. He had the Psimatar aimed at where he assumed the average female's head would be. "Who is it?"

"Me," Psylocke said as she walked into the room with a look of horror on her face. "What's going on?"

"Sanctity. I thought Strator Umbridge killed her?"

Psylocke wasn't exactly sure who this woman was, but a quick telepathic communication from Cable explained to her all she needed to know. "Why is she here now?"

"Who knows," Cable said as he slipped out of his bed and put on a pair of jeans. "But I intend to find out."

Betsy suddenly put her hands up to her mouth. "My god Nathan. I just thought about it."

"What is it?"

She sank into a chair next to Cable's door. "You and Rachel left Sanctity alone in the future. There's no telling what happened after you left. And if she's powerful enough to reach out to us in the present…"

"Then we have ourselves a problem. Oath!" Cable exclaimed as he slammed his Psimatar down on the floor. A spark of blue psionic energy sparked up from the bottom of the weapon and illuminated the room. Neither of them saw the astral image of a woman next to Cable's bookstand.

**=X=**

**Muir Island**

**Hours Earlier**

Blind Faith and Shatterstar had been given the order to wait at the helipad for the arrival of the newest members to X-Force. Originally, Havok had given Dr. Reyes that order in place of Shatterstar because he figured that Reyes' spunk could put the new arrivals in their place, but she argued him down so strongly that he let the idea go. She bashed him about how she had an infirmary to run and needed to go inland for supplies. It was a tirade heard nearly throughout the whole island and Blind Faith had paid personal witness to it. Havok had looked like he rather be back in Mogadishu fighting Ahab.

Alex let her go if for no other reason than that he didn't want the re-bandaging of his neck and shoulder wounds to hurt any more than necessary. Dr. Reyes had proven she could be either gentle or rough depending on how long ago you had pissed her off. Monet had confided to Pipeline a couple of times that she was thankful the likelihood of her visiting Cecelia was small. Havok still had a ways to go before his injuries were fully healed so the last thing he needed to tick her off.

Shatterstar had almost completely healed from the injuries inflicted on him outside of a little soreness. He wanted to get back to actually getting in the field, but Cecelia told him that he was going to have to wait another week before seeing any action. Anything less would make him a liability to the team. Blind Faith's stay on the sidelines looked to be longer as he had been thrown into a sling to keep his afflicted arm from moving. Dr. Reyes told him that he was lucky to still have feeling in it as Scalphunter's spear had come close to severing a nerve.

"Havok doesn't seem to be happy with our new arrivals," Blind Faith said as they heard the helicopter approaching in the distance.

"Does he know who they are?" Shatterstar asked.

"No clue. I'm assuming this is coming down courtesy of Wolverine and White Queen."

"I do not care for the politics we find ourselves in sometimes."

Alexi agreed, but this was hardly something he didn't see coming. Havok couldn't keep defying Wolverine and White Queen without expecting the hammer to come down at some point. These two new members, whoever they were, was Havok being shown that he wasn't in complete control. Something that Alexi could only imagine aggravated Havok given that reality had just smacked in the face with the death of Abyss and disappearance of Marrow.

As if tapping into Blind Faith's thoughts, Shatterstar said, "Maybe now with these two we can start looking for Marrow."

The priest gave a somber assessment, "I imagine we won't find Marrow quickly…if at all."

"How can a man of faith have so little of it?" Shatterstar asked. The anger in his voice was clear. "I refuse to abandon our friend to those wolves. Every minute we waste not looking for her makes me ill!"

"And you think it doesn't bother me? It does, but look at us! We're in pieces right now and if we're going to rescue Marrow we need to be at our best. Going in half-cocked is just going to get more of us hurt."

The helicopter was overhead now and moving to land on the helipad. It was a sleek, black helicopter with red X's on both sides of it. The noise of the vehicle cut out Blind Faith and Shatterstar's conversation so they waited until the machine stopped its whirring. They moved to the helicopter as the two passengers hopped out. One was quite familiar to Shatterstar.

"Caliban!" Shatterstar said as he rushed to meet The Morlock.

"Friend Shatterstar," Caliban said as the two met each other and embraced. It had been a while since they had seen each other and though Caliban had been told by Wolverine ahead of time that Shatterstar was here, it still wasn't the same as seeing him in person.

The other passenger was a petite woman, no more than 5'8 with pale skin that bordered on white. She had a frame to kill for and a stylish black bob haircut. Her clothing consisted of a black spaghetti strap shirt with pants, gloves, and high heeled boots all the same color. She walked to Blind Faith and casually shook his hand. Afterwards, she yawned and said, "I assume we're going to be working together?"

Alexi was taken aback by the attitude. "Yes. That would be correct."

"Hmph. Guess I'll have to make due," Mortis said with a haughty laugh. She was the only one who found her comment funny. She neither noticed nor cared. "Well I suppose you should take me to see Havok then. We have business to discuss."

Blind Faith gritted his teeth and broadcast a thought to Shatterstar. Seems we have another Monet on our hands. How fortunate…

**=X=**

**Massachusetts Academy (The Next Day)**

"It was her. No doubt about that," Cable said to all present in his office, which included Wolverine, Psylocke, Emma Frost, and Domino.

"Then what's her angle?" Emma Frost asked. "Why now? She's a bloody time traveler. If she wanted to off us she could just go back to when we were babies and do it."

"And Tanya is smart enough to know that," Cable said. "So that's not what she's after. As ruthless as she is, if that's what she wanted, it would have already been done."

Domino had never encountered Sanctity personally, but she had heard plenty of stories about her from Nathan. The woman was a ruthless commander who didn't tolerate weakness. Her only responsibility was to herself and her agenda. She could see emotions were running high for Nathan so she said, "So let's add up everything we know so far and try to make some sense of it."

Emma agreed. "We know she's not trying to kill us and she wanted us to know that she's here. So that must mean she wants to be found?"

"Have you been able to find her?" Wolverine asked.

Psylocke shook her head. "No she's suppressed her psi-signature. I don't think a single telepath on Earth could find her if they wanted to."

Emma couldn't believe it. "She's that powerful?"

"No, just highly skilled. You have to understand. The Askani lived and breathed psionics. They make the absolute most of the telepathic abilities that they have. And while Sanctity isn't exactly an elite psychic, she's by no means a pushover. She's held her own against me before."

"So she wants us to find her the old fashioned way?" Logan asked.

"I know a few places she might be," Cable said. "But I'll have to go alone."

"Like hell you will!" Domino exploded. "You're still trying to get over Sabretooth's attack."

"She's right. I'll go with you," Wolverine said.

Cable shook his head. "No. She hasn't attacked us yet and there's a reason for that. We don't want to provoke her. Tanya and I were…are friends. She's lost her way, but there's still good in her. I know it."

"I'm not going to let you risk yourself," Domino said.

"I abandoned her in the future Beatrice. I left her in that hellhole. She's my responsibility. If I go now I may be able to reach out to her and stop whatever it is she's got planned."

"Let him go," Wolverine said. "If he says he can stop her then let him try. Last thing we need is a psycho time traveler to deal with. We have enough problems around here with Weapon X and The Brotherhood."

Emma pulled out a roll of lipstick from her purse and before applying it, said, "Agreed. Let Cable have a shot at it."

**=X=**

**Muir Island**

**War Room**

Havok looked around the room with his fully assembled team, new members included. At his side was Blind Faith, who was going to be projecting Alex's thoughts for the team to hear. His injuries from Fatale rendered him temporarily unable to speak. Ok ladies and gentlemen, I hope everyone has gotten the chance to know one another here. Because now isn't the time for it

"Mission time huh?" Madrox asked.

You better believe it

Mortis was taken aback. "We haven't even had time to train together. To work out battle strategies and you're already about to send us out into the field? Did your injuries also make you brain dead?"

Monet laughed and whispered to Pipeline. "I can already tell that I am going to like her."

"I don't know where you're from Mortis, but the real world doesn't have time for training exercises," Copycat said.

Lois cut her eyes at Vanessa. "While you may have a thick coat of fur to protect you from bullets I have no such inconvenience."

Drop it. We don't have time to run simulations like our corporate sponsors. The things we have to take care of come at us fast and furious. You either learn to adapt or go home

Lois smiled at Havok. "You would like that. I'm starting to see exactly what Emma was talking about."

Good. Save the lecture for later. Here's the mission

A hologram of an egg shaped android appeared in the center of the conference table. This is The Nanny. She steals mutant children away from their parents because she thinks she's the only one who can protect them. A very sick, twisted mother figure is what we're dealing with here

The image changed to a large green android that looked like a walking tank. This is the Orphan Maker. Nanny's number one child. She does all of his dirty work for her. He's a psycho with the mentality of a nine year old and the power to make that combination intensely scary. Both of them are mutants despite their appearances, but their battle armor makes them doubly dangerous

"So we're going to kill them?" Shatterstar asked.

That's not the primary objective, but it's hardly off the table. Our main objective is to rescue a little boy by the name of Peter Sarkovisky. Once he's extracted you pull out, no matter the condition on the ground

"One little boy! We might as well be searching for that missing teammate of yours if that's the case," Mortis said.

In due time. Trust me. And she's your teammate now too

"So how do we find this Nanny or do you already know?" Pipeline asked.

Havok shook his head. No, but I do the location of somewhere who will know where to find her. And he's in India at the moment

The image shifted again to that of a fat, grotesque man who looked like some cross between a pig and a sumo wrestler. This attractive gentleman right here is The Pig. He's just a child napper in general. Trains the boys and girls to work for criminal organizations and sells them off to the highest bidder. If he gets a mutant one that's out of hand, he turns them over to The Nanny

Madrox smiled. "So I guess we get to make The Pig squeal?"

**NEXT ISSUE: X-Force is in India looking for The Pig, but getting him to talk won't be easy! And Rachel finds Sanctity, so what do they have to discuss? **

**Havok**

**Mortis**

**Caliban**

**Copycat**

**Pipeline**

**M**

**Madrox**

**Cable**

**Domino**

**Chamber**

**Wolverine**

**Emma Frost**

**Sanctity**

**Blind Faith**

**Shatterstar **


	19. Chapter 19

**X-Force #18**

"**Daycare's In" Pt. 3**

Cable walked through the cemetery and found exactly who she was looking for. "I figured that you would be here."

Sanctity was looking down at the graves of her father and brother. "It's strange thinking of them as dead when I know I could travel back to when they were alive. But then you'd come for me wouldn't you?"

"Things happen the way they do for a reason. After all my attempts to change things I've come to realize that," Cable said as he kept a safe distance from her. He had no idea what sort of state Tanya was in and close proximity might set her off.

"Is that why you abandoned me?"

"No," Cable said as tenderly as a soldier could. "We thought you were dead Tanya. You have to believe me."

Sanctity looked up and gave Nathan a small smile. "I do believe you. You're too righteous to have left me. I know that much. I just fault you for shitty investigative work. Did you ever think to check?"

"No. I won't lie. Confronting Apocalypse took the priority. We really thought you were gone along with the rest of the Askani."

"We survived Askani'son and trust me, our world was filled with many more threats besides Apocalypse."

Cable felt some guilt at that point. He loved The Askani and to have left them behind pained his heart. "I'm sorry. I can't take back what happened, but we can start something new here."

Sanctity laughed. "Askani'son I never believed you to be naïve. Do you really think I've come back to hold hands with you?"

"Then why have you come back?" Cable asked as he folded his arms across his chest. He was ready to pounce if Sanctity tried anything.

"I've seen the future that you and your X-Men are trying to create. You succeed and succeed quite beautifully. Humans and mutants dancing off into the sunset."

Cable saw the disgust on Tanya's face and was able to follow her line of thinking. "Why would you want to stop that Tanya? Aren't you tired of war after war?"

For a moment there was a crack in Sanctity's steel expression. "More than you'll ever know Nathan. But it's all I know and I'll be damned if you get to enjoy peace while I suffer!"

"You can have peace too! Join us and you'll have it," Nathan pleaded.

A tear trickled down Sanctity's cheek. "People like me don't know peace. And neither will anyone else. I'm already making sure to that."

It was Cable's turn to look disgusted. "What have you done Tanya?"

"A little bit of this. A little bit of that. All it takes is a few nudges here and there to redirect the course of time."

Cable's eye erupted with telekinetic energy. "I was wrong to reach out to you. You're as mad as you ever were Tanya!"

"Like you, I'm a person out of time. Three lifetimes have passed for me since I last saw you. So don't think you'll win easily. It wouldn't a smart conflict for you to engage in; especially hurt?"

Considering Sanctity's words, Cable powered down. "Tanya I have given you chance after chance. You truly are your father's daughter."

"A Trask to the end," Sanctity agreed.

"This isn't over Tanya. You'll be stopped and know you've exhausted my mercy."

"I never wanted it in the first place."

Cable walked away and left Sanctity with her broken family.

**=X=**

**Frost Genetics **

Christian Frost walked casually into his office, flicked on the light and hung up his brown trench coat. Two men were behind his desk. One sat in his chair and the other stood behind him. Frost was completely unaffected by their presence. "You're earlier than I expected."

The Dark Beast gave his signature toothy grin. "Men early for business are taken more seriously. Their desire is not doubted."

"So it would seem. You brought company so don't you think introductions are in order?"

"Of course. How rude of me. Where are my manners? This strapping young man is one of my personal creations, Agent X."

The scientifically produced mutant gave Christian a curt nod, but remained silent. Frost paid it no regard. "You were vague in what you wanted when you scheduled this meeting. Perhaps now you could be a bit more detailed?"

Dark Beast gave a mock frown. "No small talk? All you Frosts are so straight to business."

"I would prefer not to discuss Emma."

"Who said I was talking about her?"

Christian's facial response was a mixture of suspicion and shock, but before he could make any statement about the comment, Dark Beast continued. "My research is about to take a new turn. My higher-ups have assigned me a new project."

"Don't be coy. You mean Cassandra Nova. The X.S.E. have made her existence quite public." Frost wanted to cut through the layers and get right to the crux of what The Dark Beast wanted. Eli had allowed this meeting out of pure curiosity, but Frost didn't think anything good could come from dealing with Weapon X. At the moment, they were a toxic entity.

"I find the media to be exceedingly tedious so I would not know how public my dear Director Nova is. Be that as it may, she has commissioned me to begin work on a new project, but I am lacking essential materials."

Frost looked up at the golden clock above the window sill. "Then I suggest you get to it because my patience is wearing thin very quickly."

"Nutrient baths. I'm nearly out of the materials to make them. Quite the dilemma in trying to clone, splice and the like."

Frost Genetics did indeed have an abundance of those materials, but they had only recently come upon the surplus thanks to The Crafter. How had The Dark Beast known to come to him? Coincidence didn't seem likely.

"Eli came to you first didn't he?" Frost asked as he moved closer to his desk. "How much did he promise you?"

"Nothing. He wanted to leave the negotiations to you. Had to admit that left me a bit annoyed. If figured if you were anything like Em I'd be working out a deal for hours."

"Emma has always had a talent for that kind of thing. I prefer brevity. How much do you want?"

The Dark Beast lightly, almost comically, bounced his head back and forth as if considering what he was about to say. "Four million dollars worth."

"What the hell are you trying to build? An army?"

"Something of a sort, but that's really not your concern my brief friend."

"It is if your actions interfere with mines. I'll need more than money to complete this transaction."

The Dark Beast laughed. "So there is a bit of Emma in you after all. Hereditary traits are hard to deny in ourselves. You should embrace yours like your sisters."

"What are you offering?"

"I might be willing to provide you with a plethora of fascinating genetic samples. And to sweeten the deal I'll let you in on an experiment to see exactly what it is I'm doing."

"Details. Then I'll make a decision."

"I intend to clone a certain dead X-Man and make a few… "improvements" to him. The first version wasn't up to par."

Agent X rolled his eyes at the back and forth between the two men. He didn't even know why he had been brought along. McCoy seemed more than capable of handling this shrimp on his own. It was already bad enough he had been left out of the X-Men assaults.

"Haven't you and your people pissed off the X-Men enough?" Christian asked as he looked at an undeterred Dark Beast. "I am curious though. Which X-Man?"

"A former student of your sister. Everett Thomas."

Christian was silent for a moment as he considered the proposal. Seeing what was done to the clone would let him get a clue as to what Weapon X was up to. "You have yourself a deal. Give me a few days to talk with my associates and we'll work on the particulars."

"Good, good. We'll be in touch," The Dark Beast said a she rose out of Christian's seat. "You may want to have someone vacuum up the fur. I've been shedding quite a bit as of late."

"I'll see to it. One more thing before you go though."

"Yes?"

"I strongly suggest you stay away from my sisters."

**=X=**

**India**

The bar was seated in one of the poorest neighborhoods in all of New Delhi. It sat on the edge of a tent city and the building itself looked like one strong monsoon would be the end of it. But that appearance was purposeful because the real club was seated underneath the dilapidated building. Criminals wanted to gather in a place where they seemed the least likely to be and while poverty was a source of crime; it wasn't thought they would gather so close to an abject version of it. Seven members of X-Force had come to it because they knew better.

Mortis covered the lower half of her face with her hand as they moved through the tent city and towards the run down bar's entrance. The smell of feces and urine was overwhelming. "I imagine pig farms smell better than this dump!"

Copycat rolled her eyes. "Well, not all of us could grow up with a silver spoon in our mouth."

"And even fewer could grow up in a litter box," Mortis snapped back.

"Ladies, keep your focus on the mission. We are about to be dealing with some very dangerous people and things have the potential to get ugly," Pipeline reminded. He was the leader of this mission and he had to admit that he was nervous as hell. It wasn't as if he didn't have the leadership experience because he was in charge of The Press Gang, but as of late he had been content to follow Havok's lead. Even when the bastard seemed off his rocker so it was a new experience to actually be back at the command helm. Part of him wondered if he was ready to step back into that role.

Monet put a hand on her boyfriend's shoulder and said, "When don't things have the potential to get ugly?"

Getting close to the entrance of the bar, Shatterstar said to Caliban, "How many mutants do you sense in there my friend?"

The Morlock sniffed in the air like a bloodhound. "Five. The pig face and four children."

"Just a walking little Cerebro huh?" Madrox smiled as he patted Caliban on the shoulder. "So how we going in boss? Guns blazing or we playing this cool?"

"Cool. I rather negotiate with The Pig first if we can. We have enough power between the seven of us to bring this place down if it comes to that," Pipeline said hoping what he was saying was true. There was a fair amount of firepower between them but they really only had a marginal idea what was waiting for them. He doubted that they were going to be the only guests that The Pig had.

"I would prefer to stay out here until I'm actually needed. That cesspool makes my skin crawl. I'll have to exfoliate for a week to get rid of all that filth in the atmosphere," Mortis said. Poverty was such a little horrid disease to her and those afflicted by it only had themselves to blame. The rich and powerful had attained their status through their own force of will. Some cried out corruption and deception, but those who did only wish they had been smart enough to think of it first. Being in this awful place made Lois grateful her father had been one of those people.

"We all go in together. I want this to be as much a show of force as it is a negotiation," Pipeline said as he knocked on the door three times to gain entrance. He didn't see Mortis rolling her eyes behind him. A forth knock was nearly commenced when an old Indian man with cloud white hair opened up.

The old man looked at the collection of seven mutants and judged by their black, military-esque garb that they were here on business. If they were some sort of law enforcement they would have just come in guns blazing. As the door man to The Pig's club, it was his duty to assess anyone coming in and to apply appropriate security measures. Judging by the severe lack of weapons on these seven's persons, he figured them to be superhumans.

"All weapons and technology are to be deposited with me," the old man said with a thick accent as two large bouncers came up behind him. "And you will also wear these nullification wristbands to eliminate any potential superhuman attributes. I hope that these measures aren't going to prove to be an inconvenience."

"Not at all," Pipeline said as he deposited a belt of gas grenades and a couple of cell phones into the large box that the old man had presented them with. "Mortis stay outside with M and 'Star."

Lois looked like she was about to faint from relief. "Thank you for having more sense than Havok."

M gripped Cormic's shoulder. "Be careful in there."

Madrox dropped a number of handguns into the box and said, "Please be careful with these boys. They just got shined this morning."

Copycat reached down to her ankles and placed three throwing knives into the box. Reaching behind her, she dropped in a couple of energy pistols. She ran a finger along the old man's face and purred. "I hope I'll be getting those back."

The old bouncer blushed and laughed. "Of course. Our guests, as long as they're civil, have all items returned to them."

Caliban, having no weapons to give up, was the first one to have a nullification device placed around his wrist. The mutant energy signals he had felt instantly vanished from his mind, but he had remembered about where he last felt them. He was as true a tracker without his mutant abilities as he was with them. Life among The Morlocks required one to rely on far more than just their mutant abilities. The Marauders had driven that lesson home loud and clear.

"Couldn't you have picked a more fashionable color?" Madrox asked as the lime green wristband was placed on him. "I mean I know black goes with everything but—

The harsh stare he was getting from the two 6'7 bouncers made him stop his sentence. With no powers, pissing those guys off would probably end up with him having a bust spleen. He went to Monet's side before stepping in the door and asked, "Do you think we'll be able to beat the shit out of them later on?"

"I feel like we should just on principle," Monet said. She could feel the old man and the two bouncers undressing her with their eyes. If the time was right, she would use her telepathy to make them all fall madly in love with the next hideous woman they saw. It was the first time she had thought about using her telepathy in such a manner since Libya and it wasn't a thought she had to force upon herself. That meant she was getting over Havok's manipulation and she was glad for it.

Telepathy was as much a part of her whole package as any of her other abilities, but Havok had made her loathe it. Legion was a monster, that she couldn't argue, but to turn him into a living weapon like that made her stomach turn. And in some ways it reminded her of how her brother had reduced her to mere food. No one deserved to be ground down into some singular purpose and that's what Havok had made her do with Legion. There was a part of her that couldn't help but to think about where she would be if Emma had approached her like Havok approached Legion. Would she still be trapped in the form of Penance? Being forced to be a weapon for Generation X's purposes?

"—are you listening to me?" Pipeline said as he wrapped a hand around Monet's waist that startled her. "Don't go daydreaming on me."

Monet shook her head. "I'm sorry. I was just—nevermind. What were you saying?"

"We all need to keep a good look at our surroundings. This is all a bit too easy for my tastes and I have a feeling once we try to get The Nanny's location out of The Pig things are going to get heavy for us real fast."

Caliban looked at Pipeline with big, innocent, yellow eyes. "How will friend Shatterstar know when to help?"

Cormic smiled and pulled back his black vest for just a second. They all saw a tiny red flash come from within it. "They didn't swipe everything off of me."

"And I'll be in touch," Monet said as she created a psi-web between all of them. They may be blocking your powers, but the building isn't insulated against my telepathy

Pipeline nodded. "Ok people. Let's go pay our friend here a visit."

The old man stepped back from the door along with the bouncers and said, "Please enjoy the bar. There are quite a few good drinks available. My employer wants his company to indulge as much in pleasure as they do in business."

"We'll think about it," Pipeline said as he led the others into the club.

The old man smiled, with barely any teeth, at the remaining members of X-Force as he slammed the door shut. Mortis shifted uncomfortably on her feet and said, "This is not the place for heels. They barely have any flat ground."

Monet flipped her hair back. "Tell me about it. I doubt they've ever seen a sidewalk in this abominable place."

Lois laughed. "At least someone agrees with me about how atrocious this place is."

Shatterstar looked at the two women with venom in his eyes, but said nothing. Their type of arrogance was impossible to penetrate and his brain power would be better spent on other matters. As they continued to complain, he was devising possible attack strategies in his head. Because as far as he was concerned, they were going to have to have fight The Pig and whoever else was in there.

**=X=**

**The Mansion**

Cable stared out the window until he heard a knock on the door. With a slight nudge of his telekinesis, he opened it and said, "Took you long enough."

"Had to get Blink to send me over here and she was busy. I heard about Sanctity. So I guess you couldn't get through to her?"

"No," Cable said as he sat down at his desk. "And I knew she wouldn't be able to. That woman is a complete lunatic and can't be reasoned with. We need to put a bullet in her head and get it over with."

Domino imagined herself sniping the woman from a rooftop. "Not gonna happen. You know that's not how these guys play."

"Which is exactly why I called you in here. We need to have people out there willing to do the dirty, tough things to keep this progress we've made on track."

"So you want me to go back on the field?"

Cable shook his head. "No, you've earned your place on Xavier's team. I want you to stay there. I'm talking about an entirely new team with no connection to any of Xavier's people. They'll operate in the dark, receive their orders from us, and do the things the X-Men can't publically do."

"You have anyone in mind?" Domino asked. New mercs were always popping onto the scene and the two of them still had enough connections to that world order to make some moves happen.

Cable floated a manila folder from across his desk and into Domino's hands. "That's who I have in mind. Think you can get to them?"

She flipped through the various profiles and stopped at the last one. "You want him involved? He's too unstable for something like this I think."

"King will be alright. He's only unstable because he's never really had a focus. We're going to give him that," Cable said. He could see the skepticism on Domino's face, but he knew her well enough to know she would trust him. They had been put in far more compromising positions and she had always relied on his word.

"Ok. I'll see what I can do boss."

**=X=**

**The Horus Helicarrier**

**(Over Libyan airspace)**

Brent Jackson slid the pictures across the table to his commander, Director G.W. Bridge. "These are the latest picture of the A.I.M. killer's victims. None of it is pretty and judging by what I saw initially, none of them died quick."

Bridge flipped through the horrific pictures and said, "How many does that make now?"

Jackson rubbed two fingers through his blonde goatee. "Depends on what you mean. You talking about the total body count period or just the total number of high ranking officials?"

"High ranking. I could give a rat's ass about flunkies getting knocked off," Bridge said.

"Gregory Rhineheart and Amelia Heinle make twelve," Brent said as he lit a cigarette and started to puff away. "I don't mind this guy icing terrorists for us, but you know what's gonna happen if this keep up?"

Bridge grit his teeth. "An A.I.M. power struggle that'll very likely spill onto the streets. It'll be like the Mexican cartels but with high science. I do NOT want this on my plate right now and I doubt Fury does either. Whoever this A.I.M. killer is has to be stopped.

"Just say the word boss," Brent said. His heartbeat picked up in anticipation of what was in front of him. "You know we're ready."

Bridge seemed to be considering it for a moment. His features were never exactly soft, but the angles of his face seemed even harder than normal. "I was wanting to keep you as a trump card, but I think you're right. You and your boys are ready. Assemble your team Agent Jackson. You have my full authorization to hunt down this killer and bring him to me. I want him brought back alive. Is that clear?"

Jackson held his fingers making an OK sign. "No problemo boss. You know we can make it happen."

"You better. And could you please come up with a better codename for your squad."

Jackson laughed. "C'mon boss. The Jackson Five is classic and you know it."

**NEXT ISSUE: Pipeline and the gang meet with The Pig, but what does he want in exchange for giving up information about The Nanny? And who does Domino approach for her and Cable's new team? **

**Sanctity**

**Christian Frost**

**Dark Beast**

**Agent X**

**Mortis**

**Pipeline**

**M**

**Shatterstar**

**Caliban**

**Madrox**

**Copycat**

**Domino**

**Cable**

**Brent Jackson**

**GW Bridge**


	20. Chapter 20

**X-Force #19**

"**Daycare's In" Pt. 4**

Pipeline was leading Caliban, Copycat, and Madrox right into the heart of The Pig's little hole in India. They had been temporarily stripped of their mutant abilities in order to facilitate a meeting with the man. Cormic wasn't happy at the idea of not having his abilities, but he was not defined by his mutant powers. As a Genoshan Magistrate, Pipeline had been given a military education to rival some of the best in the world. He was more than capable of handling himself without his mutant powers. It would just be a matter of seeing if the rest of his team was.

"I hope this doesn't bite us in the ass," Madrox said as they were led by The Pig's man through a dim, dirty dining area. The tables were old, the floorboards weak and a dozen fans spun a thin cloud of dust meant to keep back the Indian humidity. Madrox waved a hand in front of his face. "You guys ever think about dusting?"

Copycat jammed Madrox in the rib as they were led from the dining area and down some stairs in the main room of The Pig's hideout. It looked more like a warehouse than club floor. Masked men carrying AK-47s were interspersed throughout the room. Some of them stood guard over The Pig's bread and butter; cages full of filthy and frightened children. Caliban furled his nose at the sight and instantly felt kinship with these forgotten children. Pipeline got an eerie reminder of the Mutates he once looked over and he was immediately filled with shame born from anger. Was he no better than The Pig's men?

Vanessa moved close to Cormic and leaned into his ear. "This is wrong. We need to help them."

Every fiber of Pipeline's being wanted to agree with Copycat, but Havok allowed him to lead this mission because he expected him to make the tough decisions. "We can't. Not yet. If we want The Nanny we have to go through The Pig."

Seated on a massive oak chair in the middle of the room was The Pig greedily munching down on whole apples. A box of the fruit was at his feet and two children were serving him apples like parts on an assembly line. With thick, white saliva coming down his chin The Pig regarded the members of X-Force with casual disinterest. "Business or pleasure?"

Pipeline stepped forward. "Excuse me?"

"My merchandise. Do you want it for business or pleasure?" The Pig gulped down another apple and wiped away a thick wad of saliva. "Just be warned. My kids don't come cheap."

"We're not here for any merchandise." That last word felt disgusting coming out of Pipeline's throat. "We need information. We're looking for The Nanny."

The Pig leaned forward and his chair creaked. With his one good eye, the human trafficker stared daggers into Pipeline. "She's one of my best customers and by the look of ya you don't mean her well. So why should I tell you anything?"

"Because we have an offer that you are going to have a hard time refusing."

The Pig snorted a couple of times and chomped down another apple. It was like watching a pig with the body of a medieval glutton eating at the farm. What made it worse was that the trafficker seemed to have no worry about looking like a complete slob. "You'd be surprised what I can refuse boy."

Pipeline wasn't daunted by The Pig's proclamation. He couldn't afford to be. If Copycat was going to be a part of this team then they had to find The Nanny. And of greater importance was that a little boy's life was at stake and he deserved to be returned to his mother. Part of Cormic felt something redemptive in all of this because he had taken many children from their mothers. "You sell mutant children for a higher cost because they're harder to capture and keep a hold of. What if we could provide the same amount of mutant children in a month that you'd get in three years?"

The Pig stopped eating his apples and settled back into his chair. He rubbed his chin with a thick, rough dingy white nail. He seemed to be considering the issue at hand. "That would be almost four hundred mutant kids. I have a real hard time believing you could get that many kids together for me. And if you could why the hell would you give them all to me? Just for The Nanny's location? All of this seems fishy to me! The better part of me makes me want to kill you on the spot."

Suddenly, a gun was pressed to The Pig's head. It was being held by a petite Chinese woman with long black hair. She was dressed in a red bodysuit that fit tightly to her body. Black pads were at her elbows and knees. They matched her boots, which were wrapped around The Pig's neck. "I suggest you give us the location of The Nanny right now or I'm going to pump enough bullets in your head to make you oink."

"Everyone with their fucking pig jokes. I swear," The Pig said as he looked at Pipeline. "One of your friends?"

"She is now," Pipeline smiled. "So I guess you better start doing what she says."

"Fucking mutants. Why we always gotta be so damn annoying. Could you at least take the gun off my head? You making me nervous!"

The Chinese woman pushed her gun harder against The Pig's temple. "You must think I'm a complete idiot. Once I pull back this weapon one of your men will shoot me right through the heart. Well, he could try at least. So stop stalling and give me what I came here for."

The Pig shrugged. "You got a lot of moxy girl so I'll give you what you want. The Nanny has a few locations she frequents throughout the course of the year. Right around this time she's somewhere in Tunisia."

"Try and be a bit more specific. The place has a lot of ground to cover and you might warn her before I have a chance to get to her."

The Pig growled low. "It's an old HYDRA base. The locals call it The Screaming Palace and it sits on the center of the country's border with Libya. Shouldn't be hard to find, especially with all the refugees still trying to run the border."

The woman laughed. "See, was that so hard sweetie?" She looked up at Pipeline and nudged her head towards the door. "You guys get out of here. I'll see you on the outside."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Pipeline asked. He didn't exactly want to get into a pissing match, but he didn't want to leave the woman all alone either. The numbers were way too stacked against her.

"I'll be fine. Just go before my trigger finger slips and this little piggy isn't able to go to the market anymore."

Pipeline looked to Madrox and took a deep breath. "Let's go. I trust her."

"Sweeter words have never been spoken," Madrox said as he began to back up towards the door. "It smells like a pig sty in here anyway."

**=X=**

**Muir Island**

Havok walked the final steps leading up to Muir Island's helipad with Blind Faith and Cecelia Reyes behind him. The ocean wind cut into all of their hair as they made it to the top. Dr. Reyes shouted her opinion of the current surroundings. "Alex you have got to be crazy! Your injuries aren't even healed yet and you're about to leave on a mission. With Just Blind Faith, who is just as injured, for back up?"

Through a psi-web created by Blind Faith, the still mute Havok spoke. We're not headed into a combat situation Doc. This is merely a meeting and just because we're injured doesn't mean we're complete duds. Nothing is wrong with the aim of my hand and Alexi's mind has little to do with his arm.

Blind Faith's tone was a bit more respectful of the doctor's position. "I understand your concerns Dr. Reyes and I have shared similar ones with Alex, but he believes this to be a matter of crucial importance. And with the others on the hunt for Nanny we don't have many options."

"Fine," Cecelia said as she crossed her arms across her chest. "If it's as important as you say it is then let me go with you. At least have one person who's one hundred percent."

Havok and Blind Faith quickly exchanged a worried glance. That's out of the question.

Cecelia saw something in that glance she didn't like and she wasn't going to let it go. The two men weren't going to leave this island without telling her exactly what they were about to head into. "Look, it's like this. You either tell me why you're headed to Turkey or I drag both of your sorry butts back to the Med Lab. Those are your two choices. Deal with it."

Havok wasn't particularly worried by the threat, but he knew that the woman was completely serious. The headaches this woman caused him sometimes overwhelmed her usefulness with a scalpel. I am going to Turkey to establish another valuable contact. His name is Sledge.

"That's not good enough. Who is he and what can he provide to us? If you're going to have me sign off on this, I want details."

Blind Faith gave Havok a weak smile and Alex was forced to continue. Fine Doc. Sledge is a Deviant black market dealer. He has his fingers in a lot of pies and in places I wouldn't be able to reach on my own. With his help, we might finally be able to draw Adel out in the open.

"But our time to meet with him is limited. So we have to go now and bringing you along might muddle negotiations. He's been dealing with Havok and me this entire time."

Cecelia nodded. "Ok, fine. We need to nail Adel so we can find Marrow. So go."

Havok could feel Cecelia's displeasure through the psi-web that they shared, but he was glad that at least she was able to reasonably put the pieces together. Adel had had dealing with The Dark Beast and he was behind the kidnapping of Marrow. Find Adel, you could maybe find Dark Beast and maybe rescue Marrow. Everyone was connected to someone and Havok fully intended to take advantage of those connections for the betterment of himself and X-Force.

Before the two men left for the helicopter parked on the center of the helipad, Havok reached into his jacket and pulled out a thin, gray thumb drive that he handed to Dr. Reyes. These are medical profiles on three mutants that I want you to look over. If have my way, in the next few days they'll all be members of this team. Figured you deserved a heads up on what to be ready for.

A sense of dread crept into Cecelia as she took the device from Havok. She wasn't sure how she felt about more mutants being drawn into this madhouse world that X-Force was a part of. Part of her hoped that all three of these prospective recruited turned Havok down flat. "I'll look into those. Just make sure you jokers come back home. And not anymore banged up."

The Russian priest gave the doctor a respectful nod. He saw a great deal of sanity in her and in a world as insane as theirs; she was a breath of fresh air. The way she conducted herself under fire had garnered Alexi's admiration. "We'll make sure of it."

Cecelia didn't leave until the helicopter was lifting off and pulling away from Muir Island. She looked down at the thumb drive and the doctor in her was curious at what was in it. Her time with X-Force had given her a breadth of experience that not even some of the world's foremost medical experts could match. What new challenges were Havok about to throw her way?

**=X=**

Pipeline and the others were reunited with M, Mortis, and Shatterstar outside of The Pig's shanty club within a few minutes of the mysterious woman's stunt. Cormic didn't like leaving her behind in there and was about to order the team pile drive back in to rescue her when she appeared suddenly only a few feet from them. He could only imagine how steaming The Pig was that a 5'7, one hundred fifty pound Asian woman had made a complete fool of out of him.

"You must be a teleporter?" Cormic asked as everyone was shocked at the sudden appearance of the young woman. M judged by the smile that her lover had on his face, that the woman was a friendly. That still didn't abate Monet's tendency to lean towards suspicion. She wondered sometimes if that was why Havok had chosen her. Trust didn't come easy to her.

The woman was wearing a tight; body gripping red leather suit that exposed a good amount of cleavage. Her hair was long and jet black and matched the color of her ankle high heels. She had more weapon strapped to her than seemed possible for a woman her size.

Answering Pipeline's question, the woman said, "Something like that. You're lucky I came in when I did. The Pig would have slaughtered all of you."

Copycat sucked her teeth. "He would have tried."

Mortis rolled her eyes at the incompetence she was hearing about. "My first mission with all of you and you already need to be rescued. Sloppy."

"Who are you?" Pipeline asked. "And what business do you have with The Nanny?"

Smiling, the Chinese woman said, "So I save you and get asked twenty questions? Doesn't seem like much of a fair trade to me. Besides, I think now isn't the time for them. I don't' suspect The Pig and his men will be knocked out for long."

Madrox was shocked. "You took all of them out? I'm impressed."

"It wasn't hard. The Pig's men aren't exactly now for their high intellect. Before I go, let me make one thing clear. WE both want The Nanny so if you stay out of my way I'll stay out of yours. See you in Tunisia."

Before Pipeline could say anything else, the woman was gone as if she had been nothing but a wisp of air. He cursed under his breath and said, "She saved us, but she's wildcard in all of this. It makes things complicated."

M shrugged. "Not as complicated as you might think darling. I had a chance to peek around upstairs."

"Don't keep us in suspense honey. The less intelligent ones might have an aneurysm over the possibilities," Mortis laughed to herself.

"She's not a teleporter. Her powers revolve around time manipulation and she's quite skilled at it. Sway is her codename and she's an agent for the Chinese government. Supposedly, her mission is to find a diplomat's kidnapped child."

Pipeline sighed. "Well, that pretty much covers all the basics on her. Did you pick up on any bad intentions from her? Anything that might suggest we should consider her an enemy?"

Monet shook her head. As much as she wanted to say something negative about the woman she couldn't lie. The mission was too important, but she just didn't like the way that Sway looked at Pipeline. "No, I don't think we'll have much problem from her. She genuinely wanted to help us and as long as we don't' interfere with her job we can expect the same."

Mortis heard the evaluation and smirked. Monet really had to be head over heels for Pipeline to be so forthcoming about their little guest. Women like M didn't play the straight and narrow card too often and if they did it usually was never willingly. That's what Mortis had liked about her. Monet made no illusions about her superiority and that was the way it should be for all mutants. Lois found it entirely possible to acknowledge her superior status as a mutant without wanting to wipe humans from the face of the Earth.

Pipeline was glad to hear that the woman wasn't a hostile. A time manipulator was the last kind of opponent that they needed, especially with all the unknowns surrounding Nanny. A woman like Sway could stalk them until they were in a bottleneck position and rain down automatic gunfire on them before they could even have a chance to blink. It was a terrifying thought to deal, but an invigorating one when that same person was on your side. "Our next step is pretty obvious. We go to Tunisia and find Nanny. We do whatever we can to avoid direct conflict with Nanny, snatch the kid, and get out of dodge."

Mortis huffed. "Easier said than done. Judging by a couple of you, you're going to get all weak in the knees for the other kids she has locked up and want to save them too."

Copycat was growing to really, really dislike this woman, but she was dead on. "As much as I don't want to agree, she's right. We have to keep our focus and realize we're there for one kid and one kid only. WE let our feelings get in the way and we'll end up in a SNAFU."

"Look, I'm not going to just abandon a bunch of kids if we can help it," Madrox said absolutely appalled at the idea. The fact it was even being discussed appalled him even more. "I know we signed up to some crazy stuff guys, but leaving kids to rot has to be crossing a line. We gotta be better than that."

Thinking of her own younger twin sisters, Monet became angry at the prospect of someone abandoning them, especially if it was within their power to save them. But the logical part of her agreed with Mortis and Copycat because even if they could rescue all these children from The Nanny's grasp, where would they go next? Some would probably return to their homes, but many others would be abandoned. Resigned to that dark thought, she said, "We have to focus on the mission Jamie."

Caliban frowned. "Leaving kiddies is bad. Bad, bad, bad. We heroes."

"He's right," Shatterstar said. "To just flat out say we're not going to help any other children besides for one is preposterous."

Pipeline knew that he was going to have to bridge the gap that existed between eh men and the women on his squad. He found some dark humor in the fact that the typical responses that would have been expected for the genders had been reversed. "We focus on the mission first, but we do not willingly abandon others. If we can save some of them, then we can. But not at the detriment to the mission or yourselves. Understood?"

"That is suitable to me," Shatterstar said.

Mortis groaned. "If any of the little brats smell funny I'm leaving them. I neither have the time nor the patience to wash away the stench."

Monet laughed. "Darling then you would have hated Marrow. That girl didn't shower for days."

"And this is the one we're supposed to be rescuing? How dreadful," Mortis sighed.

Jamie narrowed his eyes in disappointment at the two women. Marrow was a team members and they were talking about her like she was a piece of dirt. A fact made worse because they didn't even know Marrow's condition. She was I the hands of the Dark Beast and the things he could be doing to her scared him. Not wanting to hear anymore about his lost teammate, he said, "I think I'm going to puke. Can we please just go before I have to hear any more complaints from the Plastic Surgery Club?"

Pipeline didn't particularly care for the quip about his girl, but he understood where it was coming from. "We can't be in Tunisia trying to rip into each other. We need to operate as one unit if we're going to make it out. The information we have about The Nanny is too limited to do otherwise. So cut the BS and let's get to work. Is that clear?

**=X=**

**Turkey**

Blind Faith and Havok stood only a few feet away from a grass covered stone wall that as part of the ancient ruins of the legendary city of Troy. For many years, the city had been believed just to be something conjured up by myth until archaeologists were able to prove its existence. Of course there were many throughout the world that was already sure of it anyway. If nothing else, the existence of people like Hercules and Thor lent credence to the idea that many more legendary concepts truly existed. Blind Faith felt a sense of reverence being in this place and knowing the history behind it. He hated that such dark dealing were going to have to take place here.

"I hope you know what you're doing Havok. We're not one hundred percent and this Deviant could easily have us dead for rights out here."

Sledge wants what I have to give him and he's not going to jeopardize that. The man lives and breathes off the things he can trade and collect.

"And is it really worth giving him all of this information? Isn't there another road we can take" Blind Faith asked knowing precisely was havoc was going to give Sledge. Copies of all analysis that had been done on the Phalanx sample, a blueprint of the negoenics device found in Somalia, and a copy of the information Alex downloaded from the A.I.M. base in Libya. It was a hefty and dangerous load of information that Havok was prepared to give away.

We've been over this before. I don't have a choice and Sledge is the best person to help me keep this under wraps. I refuse to leave my family to rot.

"And I don't fault you that Havok. I just wish that you didn't feel that you had to keep everything so secret from everyone. They are not going to be happy with what you've done. Not just Emma and Logan, but your team too."

That's a risk I'm just going to have to take Alexi. I have a son who needs me and I knew that the X-Men would have never brought into my plan.

Blind Faith wondered if that was really at the root of all of Havok's secrecy or was it something else. Something far more deep-seeded and Machiavellian.

Before the discussion could carry on any further, the two men heard a loud humming noise that sounded like a vacuum running across the ground. Soon the noise was followed by the sight of a large man with an oversized head being carried on a large, metallic hover chair. Blind Faith figured the chair was more a necessity than a luxury as he looked too big o support his own weight. Making his next comment telepathic, Blind Faith said, Sledge I resume?

Yes and try not to stare. You know most Deviants have some sort of deformity and his is being obese beyond reason.

Blind Faith smirked. Wouldn't dream of it.

"Good afternoon my good men. I see you are prompt as always Havok. I love to do business with men who are serious about it," Sledge said in-between large, wheezing breaths. Blind Faith suspected that the man was use to barely being able to draw breath and there was no need for alarm on his apart. Still, it sounded horrible and he dint' want to imagine the stress it was putting on the rest of his body.

Havok motioned a hand towards Alexi. This is Blind Faith, my second-in-command. I had to bring him because as you can see my throat suffered an injury and until it heals I'm unable to speak. He's allowing me to project my thoughts telepathically as a substitute.

"Sounds good enough to me," Sledge said. His voice even sounded fat and full of lard. "So down to business! Do you what you have promised?"

Havok narrowed his eyes in distaste at Sledge's comment. I always have in the past haven't I? do you have the components?

"Of course, of course. I always follow through on deals. It wouldn't be good for business if I didn't," Sledge said as he floated closer to the two mutants. "And I brought a little surprise for you as well. Someone who's been dying to meet you and strike up a partnership."

Havok didn't like the sound of that and immediately stiffened,. This had better not be double cross Sledge or I swear I'll—

"Calm down, calm down. You need to learn to relax Havok. Nothing is out of whack here. I'm just pursuing another business venture. She said she wanted to meet you and knowing the connections you're trying to make I figured you might be interested," Sledge said as he slowly started to back away from Havok and Blind Faith. He didn't know how an angry Havok might react and he didn't exactly have any ambition to be bathed in cosmic radiation. The Deviant dealer doubted it would make him stretch or shoot up in flames. "We can handle our transaction first and then you can think about it."

Sledge pressed a series of button son his arm rest and large green box materialized in front of Havok and Blind Faith. "These are the last of the components you need to make your little trip. I even threw in a few dimension stabilizers as a sign of good faith. Go ahead and check it out. I stand behind all of my merchandise."

Havok walked to the box and lifted up its top to examine the contents. All the parts he needed were in perfect condition. He kept his smile hidden from Sledge and waited till it went away before closing the box again. Seems you held your end of the bargain. And so will I.

Reaching into his jacket pocket, Havok pulled out a black external hard drive. He tossed it into the air and it landed perfectly in Sledge's fat, stubby hands. That has everything you want on it. Our business is done here.

"Don't be so quick to leave," a woman said from behind Sledge. She stepped around the Deviant and walked forward like someone who knew exactly what they wanted. A shapely red bodysuit covered her with tiny metal spikes descending from her neck down to her navel. She was cloaked in a blue robe that seemed four sizes too big for her. It gave her the appearance of a wild priestess and that didn't help to put Havok at ease. "You might just like what I have to say."

Sledge saw the scowl on Havok's face and proceeded to back away even further. "This is Sanctity. You say you're looking for connections Havok. Well, she might prove a valuable one to have."

"Our friend is right. I think that there is much we can offer each other."

I knew I recognized you. My niece and nephew talked about you. Tanya Trask, insane time traveling mutant. Thought you were stuck in the 40th century?

Sanctity shrugged trying to ignore Havok's criticism of her as insane. "I'm sure that's why your niece and nephew hoped was the case. But I'm alive and very much here. What remains to be seen is if you'll be smart and take advantage of that fact."

What could you possibly have to offer me that I'd care hearing about?

"I have information and I know in your line of work that's a valuable commodity. My agents are spread across the globe working in various functions. IN civil government positions, in the militaries, in the private economic sector, and wherever else I may deem them useful. They have put an abundance of information at my fingertips. Information that I'd be willing to share."

Blind Faith didn't know much about the woman, but he could feel her psychic presence and it was tinged with hate. "In return for what? People like you don't' offer up their services without a price tag being attached."

Sanctity bit her bottom lip to hold back the anger that was quivering to be released. He insulted her with this tone and she felt him referring to her as some lower being when he said "people like you". But this was a negotiation and in negotiations, the cooler head prevailed. "In the future I was a general having to wage war against threats far and wide. One might be recognizable to you, Apocalypse, but the others are not. But as my army grew so did the threats wanting to see my fall and fall I did. I took whatever was left of my forces and secreted them throughout the past. I hope to rebuild what I have lost, but it will take time and my enemies will soon make their way here for me."

And in exchange for your information you want us to help you battle those enemies when they come? Is that about right?

"That's the long and short of it, but make no mistake that my enemies will become yours regardless of what you do with my offer. I have already provided a list of the prospective forces that may make their way back here to Sledge."

The obese Deviant nodded, but it was a barely noticeable one with all of the grotesque neck fat in the way. "And they're nasty boys and gals Havok. Make no mistake about it; you don't' want to have to fight them alone."

Havok took a deep breath, looked down to his side and clenched his fists. Give me a couple of days to consider it. I'll send my response through Sledge.

Blind Faith looked at Alex in complete shock and Sanctity felt herself satisfied at the response. The slight he had made against her had been answered for. "That is all I ask Havok. I'll have Sledge send you the information I have given him. I think that'll help in forming your final answer."

Walking backwards, Sanctity stood next to Sledge and kissed the sweating Deviant on the check. "Thank you for the audience. It is always a pleasure."

With that, she disappeared in a flash of teleportation and Blind Faith sent a harsh telepathic message to Alex. You had better well be planning to tell that maniac no.

I have to take into account what might be after her and if she's on the level we could get a lot of out here. We're in this to win Alexi and I'm not going to close my mind to any possibility.

Did you not feel her mind, Alex? It's full of dark thoughts and teeming with ambitious hate. She is not the kind of woman we need to associate with. Your family seems to know that already. Why can't you?

Havok folded his arms across his chest and refused to look directly at Alexi. Different circumstances require different actions my friend. Either way, I haven't made up my mind yet. We have other things to worry about.

Sledge hovered in front of the two mutants eagerly fumbling with the thumb drive, which he slid into an available port on his chair. As the information began to download, he said, "I hope you're not too mad with me for brining her here Havok. She represents a potential wellspring of information and opportunity. I figured with your goals you might want in on it."

I don't fault your logic Sledge. I just would have liked more of a warning.

"My apologies then. Well…since our business is concluded I think I'll be leaving. I hope we can arrange another deal sometime in the future. You have already provided me with profits galore!"

Blind Faith was disturbed by Sledge's enthusiasm and Havok's willingness to consider Sanctity's offer. He hated to think, but one day very soon Havok was going to have to be put in check. The priest just hoped that Alex had the good sense to see himself slipping and do it himself before someone else had to. Part of Alexi was tempted to alter Havok's memories so that he never even remembered meeting Sanctity, but he knew that wasn't the answer. If Alex was going to break away from the path he was currently on, he had to do it without that kind of manipulation. Besides, Alexi knew that if he did that then he'd just be setting himself on the same path his leader was on.

I know you're not particularly happy with me at the moment Alexi, but I have to think about the bigger picture here. If what Sanctity is saying is true and these threats are real then what sense would it make to let her stand alone?

"Let's just head back to the helicopter and go home," Blind Faith said as he turned away from Havok and began walking to the east.

We're not going home.

Blind Faith stopped walking and didn't turn back around. Where to and why?

Egypt. We're going to pick up our first recruit, Gabriel Massari.

**=X=**

**Frost Genetics HQ**

Christian Frost stood next to The Crafter as Scalphunter pushed a cart carrying a chair-sized blue and white pod in it. He was pushing the cart down a hallway to a foyer where Dark beast was analyzing a variety of different colored pods. Frost hated to watch the glee with which Dark Beast poured over the pods. He looked to The Crafter and said, "You really don't have a problem with that buffoon having his hand on your creations?"

The Crafter peered at Christian with deep, brown eyes. The native South African knew the source of Christian's annoyance with their guest and he didn't necessarily fault him for it, but he wasn't going to indulge him. "I sell the mutants I create to the highest bidder. I have long ago gotten over having any personal attachment to any of them. Besides, this is what Bard wants."

"What Bard wants may not always be the best thing for The Coven. He is not as knowledgeable of the modern world as the rest of us are. The Dark Beast is a monster and Weapon X is not an organization we need to be affiliated with."

Tugging at his black tie, The Crafter rolled his shoulders back and let loose a quick sigh. "You should be careful. He may not be as well-versed in currently history was we are, but Bard is a force to be reckoned with."

"You make it sound as if I have some designs to betray Brad. That is not the case. I simply wish he would think these things through. Your powers have limits and to be giving up your creations to The Dark Beast does us more harm than good."

The Crafter didn't much care for Frost discussing his limitations. "The more I use my powers the more I am able to stretch them. As it is, I don't think any of you outside of Love and Bard even really have any idea how my powers work."

"Don't be so bloody touchy about it. I was just saying," Frost said as they watched Kimura roll by a similar crate. "But since we're on the subject. How do your powers work? How does a mutant come across your kind of power?"

The South African smiled. "If the story will calm your nerves then I'll tell you."

"Nothing will calm my nerves as long as that mental blue ball of fur is around, but I am curious anyway."

The Crafter's disposition was as bleak as the black clothing he wore from head to toe. The world was always going to be full of crazies and every bad thing in-between. The best way to stay sane was to simply accept that fact and operate in it. Besides, as bad as The Dark Beast was there were worse. "My mother died from HIV when I was ten and so I was left all alone. I wandered the streets homeless and came up with imaginary friends to pass my time."

The mutant's mind drifted back to those early years where he only had dirty fruit bags for clothes and when the rats seemed better fed than he was. "I had no company of course so my mind was the only way to escape. But the craziest thing happened while I slept one night. I dreamt of one of these friends enjoying a nice, hearty meal with me. The kind I never really actually saw."

Christian listened to the man and mused how different their lives were, but how full of pain both of them had been. They had both lost their mothers and he could only infer The Crafter's father was a non-entity. Christian wished that he had been able to say the same for his. Winston Frost was a cruel, devious, manipulative man whose only way of expressing love was through an iron fist. Christian hated him with every fiber of his being and he wondered if The Crafter felt the same towards his father for not being there.

"When I woke up the next morning, there was a large white pod next to me. I thought it was an egg, but it was too rubbery for that. Part of me was screaming to run away from the strange object, but another part of me was compelled to stay. Like I had some sort of responsibility to it. So I stayed with it and hid it from the view of others with whatever garbage I came across."

The Crafter had gathered cardboard boxes, clumps of mud, and whatever dirty item he could find to make his white pod look inconspicuous. "I watched over the pod for the next few days until he third day it began to crack. I was absolutely terrified, but I couldn't leave. And out of the pod came the imaginary friend I had dreamed about. Right there, in the flesh. I thought I was losing my mind. I lashed out in fear and killed the creature I had formed. It wouldn't be until years later I would know that I had created a mutant."

"Who helped you to understand your powers?" Christian asked. He wondered if The Crafter had encountered a figure like The Dark Beast. His sister had a grasp on her powers when she met the twisted scientist, but in his own way he was still an influence on her. She had been young and impressionable so his darkness tainted her whether she realized it or not. And that was really why Christian hated the man. He had been one of the monsters to change his beloved Emma into something resembling their father.

"He was a mutant and I think its better I don't tell you who he is. When he's ready to reveal himself to The Coven, he will. But he taught me that I was a mutant and showed me how to use my abilities. All I had to do was to think of the physical form and it was manifested through the pods. Then I learned to give them powers and that the darker the color of the pod the more powerful the mutant inside."

As they talked, Frenzy pushed a cart carrying two sky blue pods on it. Christian looked the muscled woman up and down with nothing but contempt. She was a pawn in this game and just a piece to be used by The Dark Beast. He felt no pity for her. "Then why sell them? Why not just make an army and do what you will?"

"I can only exert so much mental control over my creations and the longer they exist the less control I'm able to exert. An army would be pointless because quite frankly, I am no general. Better to make a profit from them than to try and be the next Magneto."

"Are all the profits worth it in the end?"

The Crafter heard judgment in Christian's voice and turned on the man he saw as a pampered brat in a flash. "I have taken entire neighborhoods out of poverty! Given people hopes and dreams were they had none before. Over two hundred children had been sent to foreign universities because of me. So yes, it is more than worth it. To save one child from the horror of my upbringing is enough Mr. Frost. Be fortunate you grew up with a silver spoon in your mouth."

Frost laughed. "Mental institutions made sure we got plastic forks. They weren't as easy to sharpen as the silver ones."

A harsh rebuke died in The Crafter's throat. "I apologize. I didn't know."

"No apology necessary. I often blame my silver spoon upbringing for my breakdown. If I hadn't been so catered to I would have been able to stand up to my father instead of crumbling underneath him," Christian said as his eyes got glossy for a moment. "But that's neither here nor there. Thank you for telling me your story and I'm sorry about your mother."

"I am too. She was a beautiful woman, as far as I can remember," The Crafter said. Christian's revelation suddenly made him realize a truth he never thought possible. Growing up in the slums, he had always thought those above him would judge him without ever knowing what lied beneath. He had just found out he was capable of the same thing. "I understand your frustration with The Dark Beast so I'll keep an eye on him. As I said, the newer the creation the more mental control I have over them. So I'll watch him through their eyes."

"Thank you. That does bring me some small measure of comfort," Christian said fearing just what kind of raw material they were handing The Dark Beast and Weapon X.

**=X=**

**Department H Headquarters**

Dr. Sibelius felt some great irony in the situation that he was about to brief The Black Epsilons on. A couple of years ago, he had been caught in the crosshairs of The Black Epsilons because of his most prized possession. He would have been taken out by that clandestine group if not for his expertise on that prize. Instead he was drafted into the service of Department H and allowed to live as long as he could keep his prize under control. In the time since, he had been able to keep The Entity in check, but there was so much more that they didn't know about her.

He was in the center of a circular room with a 3-D hologram of the country of Tunisia above him. Six agents were seated and circled around him. "I'm not use to these kind of briefings, but I was given orders by higher command to lay out this mission to you. Since I'm the one with the most expertise with The Entity."

A 6'4 Haitian-Canadian had his feet propped up on the table projecting the hologram. He had a serious scowl on his face and his thick, muscular arms were folded across his chest. His arms were completely exposed and on both of his shoulders was a tattoo of a bull's eye. Cigarette smoke puffed slowly from his mouth. "I still don't understand how you managed to lose The Entity…again."

Dr. Sibelius took a breath to express his annoyance. "En route to moving The Entity to a tighter facility, we were attacked by The Nanny's agents and she was taken. Does that answer your question, Target Practice?"

The coffee-skinned man shrugged. "Works for me."

"Good. Then take The Black Epilsons and retrieve her. She's too deadly to have in the hands of a rogue element.

**=X=**

**Muir Island**

Dr. Reyes sat in front of the monitor, which was a split screen of Emma Frost and the medical files of the three mutants that Havok wanted her to look over. "These three mutants are on their way to being recruited by Alex. I've been analyzing the files and they each seem to be pretty powerful mutants in their own right. Though outside of the Massari guy, I'm not sure if they're cut out for X-Force."

Emma made no effort to disguise her anger at what Dr. Reyes had told her. "Havok is completely overstepping his bounds! I want to shove my heel so far down that vermin's throat that he'll cough up Prada the rest of his life."

"I think Havok is working at some angel I can't see yet. Whoever this deal broker that he's meeting with seems to be connected with these three mutants and everything else Havok has going on. I just can't figure it out yet."

Emma nodded, her face still flushed with anger. "Just keep watching him and I'm sure everything will come to the light soon enough. Then I'll have enough to finally convince Logan that Havok needs to be reined in without prejudice."

Dr. Reyes was of mixed feelings about that. She agreed with Emma that Havok needed to be reined in but she wasn't so sure how she felt about Emma being the one doing the reining. The woman was actually a symbol of objectivity and had a past full of questionable decisions. "Are you going to try and replace Havok as our leader?"

"I had believed him to be right candidate when we were searching for someone to fill the leadership role. It seems that we may have been wrong. He's trying to run X-Force into his own personal taskforce," Emma said. Ultimately, she knew it was going to take more than Dr. Ryes had just given her to convince Logan to remove Havok. The two of them had too good of a friendship for that, but there was a chance and she intended to seize upon it.

"So do you have a replacement in mind already? To be honest, a lot of the team is loyal to Havok and I'm not sure how they'd take to him getting the boot," Cecelia said counting herself among those who wouldn't be happy with his removal. She was spying on him for Emma and Logan as a counterbalance, a weight to keep Havok from going over the edge. But she didn't want him removed from his position. He had proven that he was dedicated to the work of X-force and cared about those under him.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. X-Force was designed to be a unit that addressed problems the rest of Xavier's people could not. You were not created to be Havok's personal hit squad and I will not allow him to continue to make these kind of unilateral moves."

Emma wished that she had more allies that she could possibly insert into the role, but her list of candidates was coming up short. She would have little option but to rely on Wolverine to find someone else and that's if he even agreed to remove Havok, which seemed unlikely. There had to be a way for Emma to gain some sort of advantage. "Thank you for your information Dr. Reyes. I believe I may have an idea in mind that will help to quell our dear Alex."

"I do what I can. Just don't be so quick to dump Havok. It might be more trouble than it's worth Emma."

"You will know soon enough what I and Logan decide to do. Enjoy the rest of the day Dr. Reyes."

**=X=**

**Sledge's Junkyard**

Sledge was busying hovering around his high-tech junkyard gathering the parts he needed to build his own version of the neogenics device that X-Force had discovered in Somalia. His home looked like any ordinary farm for junk and that's what allowed Sledge to stay off the radar. But buried underneath the garbage were items of actual value and underneath the junkyard was an extensive base that kept Sledge on the cutting edge of information retrieval and technology. He was so eager in this gathering of parts that he didn't notice Sanctity floating towards him from behind.

"You really should learn to watch your back better," Sanctity said, causing the obese Deviant to leap up in his hoverchair in surprise. "I need you in one piece and I'm sure you have a list of enemies a mile long."

"I'll work on my defenses later. I have too much other stuff to work on. Do you have any idea the treasure trove of information Havok handed to me?" Sledge asked with all the eagerness of child receiving a new present on Christmas morning.

Sanctity watched Sledge work with the pile of parts in front of him with barely any interest. Her mind was on other, more crucial matters. There was something about Havok that struck her as different from the rest of the Summers clan. Something was rawer about him. Darkness hung at the edges of his being. "Do you think he'll listen to what we said?"

Sledge looked up from his work at Sanctity and saw something that he might have written off as nervousness. "Who knows with their type Ms. Trask? He's as liable to say yes as he is to say no, but if I was betting man I'd go with yes. If he's willing to work so heavily with me, I don't see why you'd not get the same benefit of the doubt."

"Because I tried to murder his niece and nephew for starters. Not to mention I'm the daughter of the man who created Sentinels, robots responsible for more apocalyptic timelines than I'd like to count."

"He just needs to be made aware of exactly who's after you. Once he comes to realize who the greater threat is, he'll put aside whatever petty grievances he has and work with you. I'm almost sure of it."

Sanctity hoped that the Deviant was right because she wasn't going to be able to wage her campaign on her own. And if she could enlist Havok and his team then she'd be moving one more cog in the timeline machine in her favor. She had seen the future and whether Havok realized it or not, the actions of X-Force would be pivotal in many events to come. For Tanya, it was just a matter of making sure that significance played to her favor.

Turning her attention to the disheveled mass Sledge was floating in front of him with an anti-gravity beam from his chair, Sanctity said, "You certainly are in a hurry to build one of those neogenics devices. Why?"

"Because I already had a potential buyer in mind before havoc even handed me the blueprint," Sledge said as he floated towards the elevator to his underground base.

"Colonel Vazhin I presume."

Sledge stopped in his tracks and looked back at the Askani warrior. "How did you know?"

"Because this is about the time that the Russian government begins a new age in their superhuman program. And neogenics plays a big part."

**=X=**

**Tunisia**

Six distinct energy signatures appeared in the middle of a semi-arid landscape and once their molecules were pulled back together from Shatterstar's teleportation wrist bands, the members of X-Force took in the scenery. Mortis was among the first to complain. "Are you sure you didn't teleport us into the center of the earth? I can feel the air burning my lungs. No wonder all the Muslims are so angry."

M sucked her teeth. "That would depend on your point of view. I happen to be a very happy and satisfied one."

Mortis laughed. "Darling, you only help to solidify that generalization. So I'm not seeing a compound anywhere. Do not tell me these things are worth less than they look."

Shatterstar took offense. "My machinery's accuracy shouldn't be in question, especially by one I doubt could understand the mechanics of it. We're a mile from The Nanny's supposed compound and it's for strategic purposes."

"To help us tone our quads," Mortis quipped.

Pipeline understood more and more why Emma had forced this woman on their team. "We have no idea what sort of defenses The Nanny might have a round her compound. Teleporting right into the center of it would be stupid and might result in all of us getting cut into thin little ribbons. As pale and skinny as you already are, you'd make pretty bad bacon."

Mortis laughed again. "Touché. At least someone around her has some spunk."

Caliban turned his nose up at Mortis. "You should be nice."

"Oh little beasty it's so cute trying to see you string together a sentence," Mortis laughed, petting the crouched Morlock on top of his head like a house dog. "So who's running the reconnaissance for us? Shatterstar looks like he might be good at dodging bullets."

Pipeline pulled out a cell phone from his pocket and tossed it to M. "We're all going. M is going to fly in, find a good spot for us to unload and we're going to get to work."

Shatterstar quietly smiled because his new Pipeline's digitizing ability would be disorienting, especially for people experiencing it the first time. He hoped that it was quite the nauseating experience for the snarky woman. "What are your estimates on Nanny's defenses?"

Pipeline was hoping that Shatterstar wasn't trying to logic him out of sending Monet in alone to do the reconnaissance. Cormic wasn't afraid to admit that the man was just flat out more intelligent than him. "Well, she kidnaps kids for a living so I doubt she's got a lot in the way of sophistication, but these are mutant kids so there may be nullifier technology involved."

"And who would ever want to stop me from adding to the party?" Madrox asked with a childish grin.

"I suppose so," Mortis said. "Every circus needs its idiot clowns."

Jamie cut his eyes at the woman and said slowly, enunciating each word, "I really do not like you."

Pipeline was so annoyed that he didn't even give the team a warning that he was about to digitize them. With a quick mental push, he transformed himself and all of his teammates into the digital version of a text message and teleported them into the cell phone he had given M. Once she opened the text they'd be released and hopefully in a position to move against The Nanny.

**=X=**

**The Screaming Palace (Nanny's HQ)**

Never missing an opportunity to torment, the muscular Tremolo slapped Shrew across the face and sent her slamming into one of the walls that made up her tiny cell. The robust woman had been enjoying the chance to thrash the traitor around ever since they had scooped her up in Paris. Shrew had managed to be off the radar for a while, but they knew it was only going to be a matter of time before she made a mistake.

Aching to hear a scream, Tremolo kicked Shrew in the gut and lifted her up off of the dirty cell floor by her hair. She knew that her chances for getting one though were slim to none because of the gray metallic collar that was around Shrew's neck. The collar was keeping Shrew compliant to all of their orders and essentially a vegetable. Flambé and Nanny had argued it was better to have shrew around as an employee than to just beat her into the dirt. Tremolo strongly disagreed with that assessment, but as a consolation prize she got to rough up Shrew a little.

"Not exactly the best way to get her to be our friend again," Vague said from outside of the cell. Shrew had turned on them, but she was sure it was because X-Factor had forced her to. There couldn't be another reason because they had been friends and friends just didn't turn on one another. Vague's world had always operated in such simplistic standards and trying to think outside of those parameters was likely to cause an aneurysm. That was why she avoided visiting Shrew for the most part because her treatment was something she couldn't understand. It just seemed to be flat out mean.

"Now you better wrap your small little head around one thing," Tremolo said as she walked out of the cell and slammed the door behind her. She pointed violently at Shrew. "That woman is not our friend. She turned on us and got us locked up. You remember prison right?"

"Yea, but that wasn't her fault. X-Factor locked us up," Vague said as confident and sure as if she followed Shrew's every move.

"Oh I swear!" Tremolo threw her arms up into the air and walked away from her teammate, exasperated. Vague was the typical attractive airhead who couldn't get a clue if Santa stuck it under the Christmas tree for her.

Biting her bottom lip, Vague watched Tremolo walk up the stairs leading away from the dungeon Nanny had built for "naughty children". She turned to Shrew gently and cringed at the bruises hat Tremolo had left across the woman, but thankfully Shrew healed faster than most people. So she'd be fine in a few hours. "It'll all work out Shrew. Promise 'kay?"

"Of course it will," Shrew agreed, sounding more like a robot than a person. It was hard for Vague to hear her like that, but Flambé had assured her that it was all for the best. Shrew just needed some time to realize who her friends were again. She had been tricked, but once she saw the light they'd let her out the cage and they'd all be one happy crew again. Minus Briquette, but no one knew where she was.

"Ok so I'll come down here and see you tomorrow. That sound like a plan?" Vague asked to a small, defeated nod from the mind controlled Shrew.

Zeroing in on that promise and ignoring the conditions Shrew was in, Vague lightly flew away from her teammate and up the stairs. That was when a series of alarms began to blare across the entire facility. The screams of the numerous children that Nanny had gathered to her began to pick up in volume at the sudden intrusion of noise.

Tremolo came running at the confused Vague. Her lips, which were coated in too much deep red lipstick, were spread back into an excited grin. "Seems like we might have some action!"

**=X=**

Pulling in tight over the east side of The Nanny's compound, M landed in a thicket of dry shrubs and crouched to her knees. On her flyby of the base, she hadn't seen any gun turrets or anything suggesting any sort of anti-air weaponry. Barb wire fencing lined the entre compound and M's superior hearing had picked up on the beeping of mines in close proximity to the exit points of the base.

Almost as soon as she touched the ground, she picked up on the noise of a plane. It was coming fast and it was going to come in right over them. M looked up and was able to see a large black aircraft flying high altitude. She watched as six bodies jumped out of the plane and zoomed towards The Nanny's compound at breakneck speed. As they flew closer to the ground, M was able to make out some features. They were all clad in black fatigues with the lower case symbol for the Greek letter Epsilon engraved in silver on their backs.

Reasoning that things were about to get a whole lot more complicated, Monet figured this was as good a spot as any to set her teammates loose. Sliding open the cell phone Pipeline had given her, M accessed the text message and like bright bits of data her teammates reassembled in front of her. Mortis looked visibly sick much to the pleasure of Shatterstar and Madrox. Caliban was shaking his head in an effort to ward off the disorientation that was a side effect of Pipeline's abilities. Cormic was the only one who was completely lucid. "Where are we? What's our status?"

Arching her eyes upward, M said, "We're a hundred meters from the east end of The Nanny's complex. It's composed of six building and judging by a few stairways I spotted, there are underground facilities as well. I only visually spotted six children, but heard up to at least a hundred. She has no aerial defenses, but there are landmines surrounding the immediate proximity."

Cormic wondered why his girlfriend's eyes were glued to the sky and turned his own up. Squinting to see the six falling figures, he said, "And just who is that?"

"Haven't' the slightest clue darling, but it seems to me like they're trying to infiltrate that base same as us."

Understanding just what the implications of these six new figures meant, Pipeline clenched his fists and let out a long, slow groan. "This thing is going from bad to worse."

"That would depend on whether our goals happen to be the same or not. They might help us to do our work quicker," Shatterstar said. "Though I'll admit the likelihood of that seems statistically slim."

"Even so," Mortis having finished throwing up most of her food from the day stood back up straight. "That doesn't mean we can't use them to help us anyway."

Madrox still had a Cheshire cat's grin from Mortis having thrown up. It was a small bit of justice in his mind for all of the woman's rude comments. She was quickly becoming nearly as annoying as Pietro. "London actually has a point. Who woulda thunk it?"

"Before we try to manipulate anyone, we have to know what these guys are capable of and we frankly don't have time for that. Screw what I said earlier. We get the target we came in for and we get out," Pipeline said to angered expressions from Caliban, Shatterstar, and Madrox.

"You have got to be kidding me! Alex wouldn't—

Madrox's words were cut short by M. "Havok isn't here. Cormic is so we follow his orders and if you don't like it, save it till we get back to Muir Island.

Pipeline would have preferred to have answered Madrox's rebuke on his own, but he wasn't' going to cut M short. "She's right. I'm in charge and what I say goes. There are too many extra, unknown elements being thrown into the mix here to try and rescue everyone The Nanny has captive."

Shatterstar put a hand on Madrox's shoulder to keep him from approaching Pipeline. "He's right Jamie. We have to complete our mission objective and if this were simpler, I'd have our back. But we really have little idea what we're up against."

Madrox shook off 'Star's hand. "Fine I'll go with this, but don't expect me to crack a joke about it. I didn't sign up to abandon kids, but I guess that's not the worst thing a Genoshaan Magistrate has ever done."

The comment stung, but Cormic tried not to let it show. Before he could lay out a plan, six white parachutes opened above The Nanny's complex and swooped into the base. Numerous loud alarms began to go off and made M wince. Pipeline turned his attention to the base for just a moment and said, "Ok so here's the plan. Monet and Caliban, the two of you are going to be on point. Take him in and drop right him into the middle of that complex and you follow suit. Once you're inside, Shatterstar will lock in on your location and teleport us to you so we can avoid the mines. Then Madrox, it'll be time for you to dupe it up so we can cover as much ground as possible. Make it your business to avoid the parachute guys and Sway because I have a feeling we all have conflicting agendas here. Is that all clear?"

Copycat put a hand on her hip and said, "I can copy those I touch on a genetic level. It might be a good idea for all of you to make skin contact with me before we head in."

Mortis took off one of her black gloves and touched Vanessa right between her cleavage. "If I didn't know any better I would think you were trying to flirt with me. I like it."

Copycat smiled. "Maybe we'll have to work on that."

Madrox leaned over to Shatterstar. "If I didn't think she was such a prick I might actually be turned on by that."

"All aspects of human sexuality are interesting to me thought I 'm not sure how Julio might feel about that."

"Let's hurry it up people! We have no idea what's going on in there and every second we waste, a little boy's life is in jeopardy."

Madrox practically snarled at Pipeline. "Him and a lot of other kids, but that would only matter to someone with a conscience."

Mortis stepped back from Copycat. "Oh could you just stuff it Madrox! In the field tough choices have to be made and right now you sound like a baby with a big, nasty pacifier in his mouth."


	21. Chapter 21

**X-Force #20**

"**Daycare's In" Pt. 5**

Minutes ago, Madrox had arrived with the rest of his X-Force squad outside of The Nanny's Tunisian facility. He along with the others received an order from Pipeline telling them to only snatch their target objective and no one else. In Madrox's ears it rang like some sick, twisted joke. Pipeline was playing God with people's lives when he had no business to. They possessed the power necessary to get every captive of The Nanny's out alive. Unfortunately, he seemed to be the only one on his team who thought that.

"I'll go along with this Pipeline, but damn you for making me." Then he turned to Mortis. "And if you ever make another pacifier comment about me I'll make sure you wake up to a face full of toothpaste."

He could tell Pipeline looked sorry, but Madrox honestly didn't give a damn. The man just condemned a bunch of kids to who knows what kind of fate. He couldn't imagine a life with The Nanny being filled with sleepovers and video games. So if Pipeline looked sorry, then let him. He hoped this decision kept him tossing and turning at night.

"So how are we going in?" Mortis asked, clearly ignoring Madrox's warning. "We just had some parachutes storm into our mission. Seems like an element we weren't prepared for."

"We can't worry about that now. We have an objective to rescue. That's our priority. Any resistance we run into, we take it down. Once we get into that base, we break off into groups of two. Stay together and search for the boy. Once he's found, you report in and we get the hell out of there," Pipeline said with all the robotic nature that Madrox expected from a Genoshan Magistrate.

"So who do I go with?" Madrox asked, trying to tell Pipeline with his eyes to not partner him with any of the women.

"Since there's seven of us, you're going to go by yourself Madrox. You have the ability to create enough numbers to handle yourself. Caliban you go with Mortis. Shatterstar you go with Copycat. M will come with me. Understood?"

Honestly, Madrox was relieved that he was going to be left to his own devices. He took it as Pipeline giving him free reign to do what he wanted to do. So if he could he'd get to those other kids and put a stop to The Nanny's madness. "Sounds like a plan boss."

Pipeline nodded. "Good. Now let's get the hell in that base."

**=X=**

**30 Minutes Later**

Madrox took off in a run through the base, alarms blaring all around him. He made sure to stick to the darkness, to keep himself concealed. It was pretty obvious that this base was full of trouble and they had stepped into something none of them were prepared for. But that seemed to be the norm for just about every mission they embarked on.

He was just glad that Shatterstar had been able to work through the mines surrounding this base and was able to teleport them in without too much trouble. But now he was on his own and trying to locate where The Nanny kept all the children. He had guns in both of his hands, ready to take down any opposition that came his way. "Think it's time we start to cover more ground."

Banging his chest, Madrox created six dupes of himself and pointed each of them in a different direction. Hopefully, one of them would come across the kids and be able to rescue all of them instead of just one. Keeping close to the western wall, Madrox came across a door that was unlocked. He pushed it open just enough to slide through. It was almost completely dark and he was on a staircase. Taking a deep breath, he started to descend down it.

"Hello, is someone there?" a voice called out from the darkness. It sounded animalistic, but was shrill. "Who is it?"

Madrox searched the wall for some sort of light and found a switch. He held a gun in one hand as he flicked it on, illuminating a long, narrow row of prison cells. A brown, furry woman pressed her nose against a jail cell's bars and Jamie instantly recognized her from his X-Factor days. "Shrew, is that you?"

"Yea Madrox, it's me. What the hell are you doing here?" Shrew asked. She looked tired and had more than a few bruises across her body. There was a collar around her neck and her tone of voice seemed completely docile. Madrox pointed his gun at the lock on the prison cell and fired it off.

He pulled open the cell and yanked off the collar around Shrew's neck. "Are you able to walk?"

Shrew shook her head and gripped the side of it. "I think I can."

"Ok. Let's get out of here," Madrox said, helping Shrew off of her knees. "Do you know where The Nanny keeps the kids?"

"You might want to watch out."

Madrox looked to his side and felt a force slam into the side of his face. He flew backwards and slid across the ground, his gun sliding out of his hand. His head was spinning and he looked up to see a transparent woman standing in the dim light of the prison hall. "Vague. Shoulda guessed all you Helle's Belles were back together."

"Not all of us and I'll be damned before I let you take Shrew away."

Shrew shook her head and Madrox wondered what was going through her head. Whatever that collar had done to her, she wasn't quite back in top mental form. "So that's what you do to your friends Vague? Keep them locked up in a cage."

Vague switched off the light and Madrox wasn't able to see her. He reached for his gun, but his hand was kicked back. A pain shot up his arm and he figured that she had broke one of his fingers. Suddenly, he felt a weight on top of him and hands striking him across the face. The blows weren't exactly about to break any bones but he needed to get a grip on the situation soon.

"Shrew is our friend. We did it for her own good!"

"Shut up!" Shrew yelled through the darkness and tackled Vague into a wall. She slashed the transparent woman across the face and bit her on the shoulder. Then she sent a knee into the woman's stomach and watched her collapse to the ground. "You watched her beat me every day. Every day!"

Having lost her concentration, Vague was able to be seen by Madrox. He picked up his gun and shot her in the knee cap. The woman started howling in agony and Shrew looked back at him in horror. He returned the look with a cold seriousness. "We don't need her communicating with anyone that my team is here. Now do you want to get out of here or not?"

Shrew looked down at Vague and then back at Madrox. "You've changed."

"I take that as a yes?"

"Yea, let's go."

**=X=**

**Egypt**

Havok and Blind Faith stood in front of the small house, Alexi a few feet behind Alex. "Is this the place?"

"Yes," Havok said looking around him and at the other houses on the street. "Need to make sure we don't have any hostiles around."

Bind Faith moved in closer. "Hostiles for us or for your new recruit?"

"For him. He served as a member of Egypt's security services under President Mubarak. He's got a list of enemies almost as long as we do."

Blind Faith laughed. "And yet this is the man you want to add to our team. Why?"

Alex really would have preferred that Blind Faith just trusted his judgment, but then he wouldn't have been much of a second-in-command. "Gabriel has a number of skills that I think would make him an asset in the kind of work that we do. Not to mention, that he's one of the more powerful mutants I've come across in a while. We have a real opportunity here."

"An opportunity to add another psychopath to our team. I'm not stupid Alex. I know that the Egyptian security forces didn't have a reputation humanitarian's could be proud of. Do we really need another person with loose morals on the team?"

"You know exactly why we need more people on this team," Havok said as he knocked on the door. "Can you try and not look so damn sour?"

Blind Faith smirked. "I'll think about it."

The door opened and a forty-something woman was standing in the doorway. Havok was only able to come to that judgment by the wrinkles around the woman's green eyes since she wore a veil. She looked at the two men oddly with just a hint of danger in her eyes. "Why are two Europeans on my doorstep?"

"Russian and American," Blind Faith said. "And trust me, there is indeed a difference."

The woman looked at them intensely. "This is about Gabriel isn't it?"

Havok nodded, trying to look as pleasant as possible. He could see a dozen ways how this situation could get out of hand and he wanted to avoid that. "Yes, we know about your son and his work. We also know people want him dead and we want to help."

"We'll see about that," Mrs. Massari said. "Come out of the street before you're seen. Things here are still very tense."

The two stepped into the house and Blind Faith immediately asked, "So where did you learn your English? You pull off an American accent well."

"I grew up in America. Even served in the Air Force," Mrs. Massari said, directing a hand to two chairs in a corner of the living room. "Please have a seat. I'll go and get Gabriel."

"You don't need to get me," Gabriel said stepping out of the kitchen. "I heard everything. Who are you? CIA? NATO?"

Havok stood up from the chair and held out his right hand to be shaken. He knew better than to put out his left as it would be considered an insult. "Neither Gabriel. We're both mutants and we know you are too."

Gabriel took the hand and shook it firmly. "That still doesn't answer my question."

"My team is called X-Force. We're an independent black ops unit that works to take out threats to the mutant community across the globe. I recognize your talents and think you could offer a unique perspective to my team."

Gabriel folded his hands across his chest. "If you want me on your team I have one condition."

"I'll see what I can do. Name it."

"Get my parents out of this country and set up comfortably in Europe. My work has put them in just as much peril as me. I don't want them paying for my work."

Havok looked back at Blind Faith and then to Gabriel. "Given my people's talents that shouldn't be a problem at all."

"Then you have me at your service."

**=X=**

**The Screaming Palace**

"Can't believe this place has a library," Mortis asked as she ran her black glove along the spine of one book. She was disgusted when she pulled back a line of gray dust. "She could try to clean it though."

"Nanny like to read," Caliban said, sniffing the air. "Many mutants here."

"You have such a lovely talent of stating the obvious," Mortis said, pulling one of the books out of its place on the shelves. This wasn't the most impressive collection she had ever seen, but at least the woman knew how to keep trashy romance novels around. "Seeing as how The Nanny is in a big metal shell, she should be her own personal vibrator."

"Why would she want to vibrate?" Caliban asked. He sniffed the air again. "Mutant very close."

"They're all close. We're in a mutant farm," Mortis said and added with a laugh. "We really need to get you into some sex education honey."

The Morlock growled and turned his head in the direction of the door. "Mutant here."

A loud crash followed and the metal door to the library blew open. Standing there was a woman with purple and black armor with hair to match. She was wearing a bright red lipstick that Mortis found to be completely tacky given her armor. It stood out like a tramp in front of a church. She wagged a finger at the woman. "You could stand to tone down the color darling."

"Oh so you're so about to get your ass kicked bitch!" Tremolo said as she radiated a series of sonic waves from her body that forced the two X-Force members to grip their ears, lest they go deaf. "Now start talking. Who the hell are you?"

Mortis looked up and suddenly saw Sway with a gun to the back of Tremolo's head. Lois chalked it up to the woman's time manipulation abilities. It was a neat trick that Lois imagined every teenage boy wished they had for the girl's locker room. Caliban, like a gentleman, asked, "Mortis ok?"

"I'm fine. Even better that our lil Chinese gunner is here."

Sway pushed the gun against Tremolo's head, not taking the time to respond to Mortis. "Where are the children?"

Tremolo grumbled. "All this trouble over some fuckin kids. Who gives a fuck about the little brats anyway?"

"I do when one of those kids belongs to a Chinese diplomat. Now start talking or I put a couple of bullets through that thick head of yours."

Caliban looked up at the roof and growled. "Mutant."

The roof above them exploded and a large purple and gray cyborg fell through it. Having grabbed almost everyone's attention, Tremolo used the distraction to elbow Sway in the stomach and flip her over her shoulder. Sway landed on the ground with a smack and Tremolo sent out another barrage of sonic waves, forcing everyone to grip their ears. She was about to stomp on Sway's face, when Caliban leaped into the air and tackled her to the ground.

"Be quiet," Caliban said as he punched the buff woman in the face. He turned his attention back to Mortis and saw she was cornered by the new combatant to the field.

"Get back!" Mortis yelled, forming a ball of destructive energy in her hand that she threw at the cyborg. The blast hit it in the face and disintegrated much of the metal plating revealing the face of a young teenage boy, though horribly scarred by whatever transformed him.

"Leave friend alone!" Caliban said, slamming his shoulder into the cyborg's back. Mortis dodged out of the way as the two crashed through one of the shelves of books.

Mortis went over to Sway and helped her to her feet. Sway nodded her appreciation and looked to the hole in the wall that Caliban had made courtesy of his collision. "We need to help him."

"Not a chance," Mortis said garnering a shocked look from Sway. "Trust me on this. Those two are about to have a hell of a rumble and we'd be more of a distraction than a help. He's got a nose on him. He'll be able to find us. We need to go after those kids."

Sway looked down at the unconscious Tremolo. "Guess we need to find someone else to get this information from."

"Then let's go before those two decide to bring the fight back in here."

**=X=**

**London**

Gabriel looked at the London apartment buildings around him. "So you have teleportation technology. Pretty impressive for an independent black ops group."

"We have our backers. You'll find out more about that once we get back to base," Havok said.

"And I'm assuming that base isn't London," Gabriel said. He was about a head taller than Alex and had a darker complexion, but Blind Faith couldn't help to notice that he had some similar features to Alex. They had the same eyes and their hair went in the same direction in the wind. It was a curious little similarity.

"Base is a pretty complicated matter as well," Blind Faith answered. "Just give us a bit of time and everything will be laid on the table for you."

Havok locked his eyes on one ritzy apartment complex. "Right now, we kind of need you to be an advocate for us. We're here to try and snatch up another new recruit."

"MI-13?" Gabriel asked.

Blind Faith laughed. "Far from it."

Gabriel's nose turned up. "A civilian?"

Havok could imagine how that would look from the point of view of a security professional. It would seem almost unconscionable to throw an untrained civilian into the kind of work that they did. But that perspective also showed Havok that Gabriel really didn't understand the world of mutants. In the struggle to protect mutantkind, there really was no such thing as a mutant civilian. Every mutant had a stake in protecting their world.

"I know it sounds harsh, but things operate differently with us," Havok said.

"Yes, you X-Men are a bit unorthodox," Gabriel said. Alex and Alexi both looked at him wide-mouthed. "What? Did you think I had no idea who you are? Egyptian intelligence isn't as backwater as you Westerners might think."

Havok laughed. "I think you and Monet will get along just fine."

Gabriel saw the sarcasm in the comment and folded his arms across his chest. "Who's the target?"

"His name is Thomas Jones. Once worked with a group of my associates under the name of Alchemy. He's a genius biochemist."

"And you're about to throw him into high risk operations?" Gabriel asked. "I'm starting to rethink my decision."

Blind Faith laughed. "Trust me. I do every day."

"Could you two save the negativity until after we grab Alchemy? I don't want to scare the kid off."

"He's a biochemist. What makes you think he would want a part of a black ops outfit anyway?" Gabriel asked.

"There's a pretty compelling reason. He lost family members in the Little Rock attack."

Blind Faith was about to press the button to buzz Alchemy's apartment, but he halted. "Are you serious Alex? Are you really planning on manipulating this boy using that? Doesn't that strike you as the least bit wrong?"

Havok frowned. "I don't like it, but we do what we have to do. And who's to say this kid doesn't want a chance to get back at the people who hurt his family? He might want a chance to stop another Little Rock from happening."

Gabriel popped a piece of gum into his mouth. "Instead of making it into a debate why don't we just let the boy decide for himself what he wants to do?"

A tall, lanky young man with large glasses and a big nose approached the three mutants holding a bunch of grocery bags in his arms. "So what do you want with me?"

"Who says we want anything from you?" Gabriel asked.

The man frowned at Gabriel. "Because I'm the only mutant that lives in this apartment complex."

Havok smirked at Gabriel and turned his attention back to the young man who had to be Thomas. He was even skinnier than Alex expected him to be and for a moment he wondered if this guy was really ready for what X-Force's world offered. But then he remembered with mutants, great power could hide behind the smallest of frames. "My name is Alex Summers. I believe you know my older brother Scott. His more public name is Cyclops."

"So you're part of the X-Men?"

"Not exactly. At least not a public part of them. We're black ops and I want to offer you a spot on our team."

Alchemy looked like he had just been told his parents were from Mars. "Are you serious? Black ops? Do you have any idea what I do for a living?"

"I'm well aware of that, but I think you're underestimating yourself and your abilities. You truly are a powerful mutant Thomas and I know about the family you lost in Little Rock." Alex could feel Blind Faith's eyes boring into the back of his skull. "With our team, you would be working to prevent any more such tragedies from ever occurring."

Rage flashed across Alchemy's face for just a moment. It was so intense that Havok wasn't sure how such a small frame had mustered up that much anger. Then Alchemy's expression returned to normal, but he was silent for a few moments. Moments that seemed to drag on forever. "How soon do you need an answer from me?"

"The faster the better. Any personal loose ends we'll be able to take care of for you. I have a friend who happens to be very good at making sure my team has enough cash for almost any issue. I saw it in your face a moment ago Thomas. You want this. We can train you. Make you into the kind of person that can handle this sort of work. I wouldn't throw you to the wolves. I promise."

Alchemy nodded, but it seemed more to himself than to Havok. "Ok. Let me get my things and we can leave."

**NEXT ISSUE: Caliban and Orphan-Maker throw down! **

**Havok**

**Blind Faith**

**Vulcan**

**Alchemy**

**Mortis**

**Caliban**

**Madrox**

**Pipeline**

**Shrew**

**Tremolo**

**Orphan-Maker**

**Sway**


End file.
